Bible Reading: To Check Boxes…Yes or No?
In Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, Donald Whitney says, “The most critical discipline is the intake of God’s Word. No factor is more influential in making us more like the Son of God than the Spirit of God working through the Word of God.”
Reading the Bible was instrumental in my conversion. I was a teenager, who felt that most of the people I knew who claimed to be Christians were hypocrites. If they really believed what they said, then their lives would look different. If the Bible were true, then it should affect everything about their lives. I should know…I was a practicing hypocrite just like those I was judging.
I was at a turning point. I was going to stop being a hypocrite one way or another. I planned to read through the gospels on my own. If I wasn’t convinced, then I would stop the whole hypocrite thing. I began to read through the gospels. God placed some friends with genuine faith in my life, and He allowed me to hear some pointed sermons. Before I finished reading the gospels, I didn’t want to be a hypocrite anymore. Instead, I wanted to follow Christ with all my heart!
I would eventually work my way through reading the whole Bible by my sophomore year of college. It took three years. My reading was sporadic and inconsistent. I had big gaps in my understanding because I had no systematic plan. But, one day someone handed me a copy of the Navigator’s Bible reading plan. It was outdated and looked like it had belonged to someone else before. But, it changed my life.
That small little booklet gave me a systematic plan to read through God’s Word annually. It was used repeatedly and traveled overseas and to seminary with me. Eventually, I would try other plans. It has become my practice to systematically read through God’s Word every year.
Sometimes when I share this practice with others, I’ve been told Bible reading plans are legalistic, not Spirit-led, etc. Truth be told, I’ve felt that way before too. My response to those who don’t want to “check boxes” in their daily Bible reading is similar to D.L. Moody’s response to criticism of his evangelism method:
“It is clear you don’t like my way of doing evangelism. You raise some good points. Frankly, I sometimes do not like my way of doing evangelism. But I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.”
Now, this isn’t to say that if you’re not using a Bible reading plan, you’re not intaking God’s Word. But, in my life, when I’ve tried to go a season without a reading plan with boxes to check, I finish the year with less Bible intake and regret not using a plan.
Here’s how using a Bible reading plan and checking boxes has helped me:
Self-Accountability - I need accountability. I look for accountability from others, but I also know self-accountability is built into those boxes. If I miss a day, I know I’ll need to read extra to catch up if I want to meet my goal.
Less Planning - I read an article recently about leaders who wear the same clothes every day (black suit or black t-shirt for example) to eliminate “decision fatigue”. One benefit of using a Bible reading plan is you don’t have to spend time trying to decide “what” to read in the Bible every day. It also eliminates the temptation to read only passages that speak to your current emotional state and avoid passages that might be convicting.
Holistic Study - Honestly, I probably wouldn’t choose to read Leviticus without a Bible reading plan. There’s a chance that I might miss Jude and Philemon altogether if my strategy was to open the Bible and start reading. A Bible reading plan ensures I visit these books, and more often than not, I have a takeaway that I wouldn’t have had without reading that portion of Scripture (even Leviticus).
Stacking Knowledge - I want Scripture to be familiar to me. Systematically reading through God’s Word year after year allows me to stack knowledge from one year on top of the next. Every year I know God’s Word better. I see different aspects of God’s Word. I see common themes running through God’s Word.
Over the past three years, our church family has read through God’s Word together using a plan called “Committed to Know Him.” I’ve heard from people that they’ve read through God’s Word for the first time, and many times that they’ve been able to begin stacking consistent Bible intake one on top of another for days, weeks, months, and years because they are using a plan.
This year we’ve adapted the plan to focus primarily on the New Testament to help everyone in our church family begin developing healthy rhythms of Bible reading. If you’d like to see what our church is doing (or join us) you can find the information for Committed to Know Him here.
I pray you will “check boxes” in a Bible reading plan this year!
