The great Michael Scott once said: “I am optimistic, but every day I get a little more desperate.” I don’t wish to play into the apocalyptic cheerleaders’ game, but I do want to say there is a crisis of biblical literacy in our culture. It’s not for lack of Bibles. “Almost nine out of 10 households (87 percent) own a Bible, according to the American Bible Society, and the average household has three.”a We have come a long way from Gutenberg. We have so many Bible translations that I am afraid to update my Bible Software for fear they will give me six more translations I won’t read. With the progress of linguistic studies, we are living in an age where a tribe without any written language can actually have a language developed and written for them by gifted missionaries. It’s the modern-day gift of tongues.
Yet, I get a little more desperate, especially when I consider the methodologies for Bible reading. As LifeWay Research concludes:
Americans also differ in how they approach reading the Bible. Twenty-two percent read a little bit each day, in a systematic approach. A third (35 percent) never pick it up at all, while 30 percent look up things in the Bible when they need to. Nineteen percent re-read their favorite parts, while 17 percent flip open the Bible and read a passage at random. A quarter (27 percent) read sections suggested by others, while 16 percent say they look things up to help others.
It’s not for lack of trying. Every major Bible site has some kind of Bible reading plan. Pastors encourage their people to read the Bible in one year and for the weak, there is even a three-year plan. There are Bibles designed so you can read through it at a certain length of time. I applaud such efforts and I know many who have conquered the limits and distractions of every day. But in my eleventh year of pastoral ministry, what I have found are frustrated Bible readers, defeated Christians who have tried so much and failed to achieve the prize of finally reading Revelation 22:21.b
A Proposed Model
I want to propose a Bible reading plan for you. It’s likely not new.c I am not going to ask you to read through the whole Bible in 30 or 365 days. If you wish to go that route, I encourage you. But for those who have tried and returned empty, I am not going to bind you to any sort of commitment that will likely leave you feeling guilty when you do not achieve the desired goal or find yourself 18 chapters behind the schedule. I have seen this too often.
I propose something I call “Indwelt Reading.”d Here’s the way it goes. Instead of seeking to read the Bible chronologically, you dwell in a particular book or section of the Bible for long periods of time. As a family, you may wish to read through James in a month. It’s highly practical and short. Another example is Ruth with 85 verses. You can read this book in 7-8 minutes. If you decide to dwell in Ruth for a whole month and succeed at reading through it 20-30 times, you will have a remarkable knowledge of its details and themes.
If every book of the Bible is truly a miniature Gospel, then you can sit and ponder anew passages that you often overlooked. Instead of viewing Bible reading as a 5K run, you should view it as a long marathon where you stop every few minutes to enjoy for a considerable time the lovely vistas of nature around you. The Bible is not a competition, it’s an experience of learning and growing in the very words of our Lord; it’s the composition of heaven’s music given to men.
What about longer books? I have taken the task of reading through Genesis in 2019. My goal is to read it at least four times. It’s doable and provides an incredible framework for studying any future book since the basis of everything else in the Bible is formed in that first book. With the Psalms, one can take the Psalms of Lament for a whole month or something similar.
Further, this model will help you to see words and ideas you never stopped to ponder in your hurry to finish the 5K in the past. You allow the Word of God to dwell in you richly instead of dwelling in it for a quick hotel stop or water break at a run. One of the benefits of this is that you will become highly comfortable with the furniture and layout of a particular book. In this process, I would urge you to read from one Bible. I like the idea of knowing where verses and ideas are found on a particular page.
Let me know your thoughts after you try it for a few weeks and please let me know what book or section you chose. I hope it’s as beneficial to you as it has been to me.
- https://lifewayresearch.com/2017/04/25/lifeway-research-americans-are-fond-of-the-bible-dont-actually-read-it/ (back)
- In a liturgical congregation one will have the opportunity to hear three lessons; a vastly more sober model than most evangelical churches that barely read any Bible except the sermon text. (back)
- One reader said that John MacArthur proposed something like this (back)
- The idea simply stems from Colossians 3:16 where Paul says that the word of God should dwell in you richly (back)
