Category — Bible Study

This is the sixth and final installment in a series.

• Part 1 can be found here.
• Part 2 can be found here.
• Part 3 can be found here.
• Part 4 can be found here.
• Part 5 can be found here.

I want to close this series on reading through the Bible by discussing our motivation for reading the Bible. As I reflect on my motives for reading God’s word, I know that many times in my life I had improper or inadequate or just unclear motives. I want to discuss some of those in this post as well as present what I think may be the best motivation.

1. We should not read the Bible to get God’s favor on our lives. Sometimes Christians look at Bible reading like a good luck charm, but that is an improper, even unspiritual motive for reading the Bible. I used to think of spiritual disciplines (such as Bible reading and prayer) as ways to ensure God’s good favor in my life. When I played soccer in high school, I remember once seeing a teammate score a goal by making a really great kick that the goalie could not reach. Another teammate (this was a Christian school) yelled out, “He had his devotions this morning!” He was kidding; unfortunately, a lot of Christians (including me, at one time) look at spiritual disciplines just that way. We see doing good works as ways to improve our standing with God and ensure his blessings on us. If you think that way–that is, if you believe that reading through the Bible will improve your standing with God–you have an improper motivation. In fact, your motivation is inherently unChristian. The New Testament teaches clearly that any standing we have with God is based on what God through Christ did for us, not what we did or do for him. It is what the Bible calls grace, and our relationship with him is completely dependent on it. The growth we make in Christ, including our appetite for God’s word and our obedience to it, are likewise based on God’s grace, not on unaided human effort. If you think that reading through the Bible this year is something you can do to make God love you more, that is a wrong reason to read through the Bible.
2. We should not read through the Bible looking for spiritual stimulation. As you read through the Bible next year, there will be passages that convict you of sin in your life. There will be passages that correct unbiblical thinking in your mind. There will be passages that challenge you to do something you may have left undone in your life. If you are an attentive, receptive reader, you cannot be exposed to God’s word on a daily basis without it changing your life. However, many Christians, myself included at times, look to daily Bible reading for a spiritual jolt. This is reflected in the typical statement, “I read the Bible today, but I didn’t get something out of it..” It is good to want to understand and apply the Bible to your life, but too often we read the Bible looking for some earth-shattering insight or some dramatically life-altering experience. This leads to lots of interpretive abuses such as spiritualizing the text of Scripture. This is not how spiritual growth occurs. Spiritual growth is a struggle that occurs over time through repeated exposure to many of what theologians call the means of grace: preaching, fellowship with other believers, and Bible reading/study just to name a few. Just as you don’t feed a baby one good meal and watch him or her grow a foot instantly before your eyes, so also as Christians we do not grow dramatically and instantly every time we read God’s word. As we nourish ourselves with God’s word, God changes us over time.

   Related to this is the desire to feel more spiritual just after reading the Bible. The Bible is not like caffeine. It does not give us a quick boost in our spiritual energy. If you read through the Bible this year and have times where you don’t feel any different, do not be alarmed or discouraged. God is still working, even though it may be imperceptible to you.

3. We should not read the Bible primarily to understand the Bible: Obviously, as you read through the Bible, you will come to understand it better. You will see some verses in context that you may have heard quoted out of context. The context will help you understand them better. You will also begin to grasp the big picture of God’s working in the world. But there will be lots of passages that you read that you simply don’t understand. If you are reading the Bible with the primary motivation of understanding the Bible, one of two things will happen. Either you will get stopped by the passages you don’t understand (slowing or arresting completely your progress in reading through the Bible) or you will keep reading but feel frustrated. If your goal is to read through the whole Bible next year, you cannot stop to study every passage you don’t understand. Despite the help we get from good translations, many Bible passages cannot be understood only by reading them. The historical context, the theological complexity, the cultural distance, and other factors require a person in our age to study many passages before they can be understood. So, while you will understand the Bible better at this time next year because you have taken time to read it through, understanding the Bible probably is not the best goal to have by itself for reading through the Bible.

   Having discussed all the improper motivations for studying the Bible, let me propose a motivation that I think will help you and me to get through the whole thing next year and be better off for doing so. Here it is:

4. We should read through the Bible next year to stimulate our interest in God. If you read through the Bible this year, do it attentively with a goal of raising questions. Let the word of God provoke your curiosity about what God is like and what he is up to in our world. This motivation will do a couple of things to help you grow spiritually. First, it will deepen your relationship with God. Some of the questions raised by reading through the Bible will be answered immediately or later by the Bible itself. This will cause you to love God more deeply and follow him more closely. Some of those questions will be answered later in messages (sermons and Bible lessons) you will hear this year in your church and elsewhere. In other words, reading God’s word will raise your spiritual antennae. You will profit more from preaching and Bible teaching because you will be more attentive, having lots of unanswered questions in the back of your mind that your mind will seek the answers to. In short, it will make you a better hearer of God’s word. Do you see now how spiritual disciplines work together with the other means of grace to stimulate Christlikeness in your life? A final result of this motivation is that it will improve your relationship to your pastor. When you have unanswered questions about God’s word, you will inevitably go to a source you trust for answers to the most burning ones. Let your pastor or one of the other elders of your church be the person you ask. There may be some men in church leadership who are bothered by questions. That is unfortunate. I believe that giving answers and wisdom from God’s word is a big part of the shepherding that God wants elders to be doing. God gave you these men to lead you toward Christlikeness. Personally, I love it when people in my church say, “Can I ask you a question…” about something I said in a message or something they read in God’s word. That person is spiritually engaged. Getting people to become spiritually engaged is the hardest, most needed work that elders are to do in churches. It is easier and more fun to work through the discipleship process with someone who is engaged already in the spiritual growth process. It is far more enjoyable and profitable to work with someone like that than to confront a fellow believer who is engaged in sin or to counsel someone through the fallout of his or her own disobedience. Reading God’s word with a desire to stimulate your spiritual interest will help to engage you fully in everything God offers to you through the church. This is the highest and best motivation you can have for reading the whole Bible next year.

This is part 5 in a series.

• Part 1 can be found here.
• Part 2 can be found here.
• Part 3 can be found here.
• Part 4 can be found here.

Here are a few more tips to help you get over the hard parts and keep going as you read through the Bible next year.

1. Read Along: Many believers are not active readers. I have learned over years of talking to people in my church that most adults stop reading books when they finish college. Those who do read books tend to read novels which are less challenging than non-fiction books like…, oh, I don’t know…, say: the Bible. One reason why people fail to read through the Bible despite good intentions, then, is that they are just out of practice. What can be done about this?

   One way to fix this problem is to buy a professional recording of the whole Bible. Let the narrator read the text aloud while you follow along in your Bible. Following along in your Bible is important, especially if you eventually want to do the reading alone, without this helpful assistance. You start by letting the narrator do the reading while you follow along. Then, gradually, you do less listening and more reading on your own. For instance, at the beginning, you let the narrator do all the reading. After a month or two, let him read three chapters (as you read along), but you read the fourth chapter on your own. Then go to two chapters each and so on until you can do it all yourself. This is a good way to get through the whole Bible and develop your self-discipline until you can really do it all on your own. If you can handle most of the reading, but get stuck in the legal sections of Exodus, or the long speeches of Job, or the odd visions of Ezekiel, then maybe you just want to listen to the audio for those sections but do the rest of the reading on your own.

   Which audio narration should you buy? I recommend The Listener’s Bible read by Max McLean. (Here is a MUCH cheaper MP3 version. The MP3 version may not work in your car’s CD player, but you’re going to use it in a spot where you can read along in your Bible too, right?)

2. Unleash Your Curiosity as You Read: Here is an admission you won’t find from many preachers: the Bible contains a lot of weird stuff. Guys who marry their sisters, baptism for the dead, and other strange things such as this, this, this, and this. There are plenty of passages in the Bible that seem odd. Many people who “read” these sections are merely passing their eyes over the words because it is rare to find someone asking about these unusual passages. But if you learn to read with as much curiosity as you can muster, you will find a fascinating world in the Scriptures that you never knew was there.

   When you read in Exodus about the Tabernacle or the High Priestly garments, try to visualize them in your head as you read the descriptions about them. Ask yourself why God felt it necessary to require all this and why He thought it would be good to inscripturate these things. The more engaged your mind is as you read, the more interesting and enjoyable you will find your time in God’s Word. Ask questions of the text and your mind and heart will be energized rather than bored, even in some of the tougher spots.

3. Skip the genealogies and skim the repetitive stuff. Did you know that the first NINE chapters of 1 Chronicles are all genealogy? Do you think it is necessary for you to read those sections for two straight days? I do not. I used to be somewhat legalistic about this, forcing myself to read begat after begat. I did it because I felt it would be cheating to skip them if I was trying to read the whole Bible. Now I skim them or skip them entirely and I encourage you to do the same. The Christian world would be a better place if Bruce Wilkinson would have skipped over the genealogies in which the Jabez story is embedded in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (see Phil Johnson’s review of Wilkinson’s book, The Prayer of Jabez here). However, don’t skip the genealogies in Matthew and Luke. They are not that long and are important to understanding the human life of Christ.

   You can also skim sections that are repetitive. Take Numbers 7 for example. In this section, each tribe of Israel brings an offering of dedication to God for the Tabernacle. Each tribe brings exactly the same offering yet it is listed in detail twelve times. Read the first one carefully; skim the rest.

4. Use a Reference Work or Two: The NIV Study Bible contains some very helpful notes that can help you through some of the confusing sections of Scripture. Likewise, a simple but good commentary set like the Bible Knowledge Commentary or the Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary can help you understand some of the tougher passages.
5. Don’t Get So Hung Up on Doing it All in One Year: Reading the whole Bible in a year is a very doable project for most Christians, but maybe not for you. That’s OK. Try reading two chapters per day and get it done in two years. Or read just the New Testament this year. One chapter per day, five days a week will get you through the whole New Testament.

I will wrap up this series tomorrow by discussing what a believer’s motivation for reading the Bible should and should not be.

This is part 4 in a series.

• Part 1 can be found here.
• Part 2 can be found here.
• Part 3 can be found here.

If you read yesterday’s post, and have decided to read through the Bible next year, I have a question for you: Did you read Genesis 1-4 yesterday? If not, go read that right now. Don’t read any further in this post until you’ve read Genesis 1-4.

Go ahead. I’ll wait….

Now then, if you have decided to take on this challenge, and have set for yourself a time and place, and begun to develop the self-discipline it will take to succeed, then congratulations! You are on your way. This post will give you some tools that may be helpful to you.

1. Version Check: So you are planning to read through the Bible. Great. Which one? There is a long list of English Bible translations from which to choose. Which one are you going to read this year? This is an important question because some English translations of the Bible are easier to read than others. Bible translations and translation theory is something I have studied and thought about over the years at some length, and I believe that the most accurate and readable translation is the New International Version (NIV). Lots of Christians want to go to war over which translation is best. Although I like the NIV best, that does not mean that I dislike other translations. Each translation has strengths and weaknesses. Some Bible versions translate the Bible too loosely, in my opinion, for serious preaching and study. These would include the New Living Translation as well as The Message, the Living Bible, and other free translations and paraphrases. But I think that the New Living Translation is fine for simple Bible reading as it is more readable than the NIV and fairly accurate.

   If you have hard, strong opinions about one translation or translation style over the others, I have a question for you. Would it be better to own, but never read, a highly accurate translation (NIV, ESV, NASB, KJV, whatever) or would it be better to actually read a “weaker” translation (such as the New Living Translation or even The Message)? That is not a false dichotomy. Most believers I know who do not read the Bible regularly are trying to read a translation that they don’t understand. Because none of the major evangelical Bible versions openly teaches heresy, I would rather one read a weaker translation than do no Bible reading at all. So, my advice to you who are going to read through the Bible this year for the first time is to read a Bible you can understand. You can always check a more conservative translation or ask a trusted pastor or friend if a question arises in your reading. Or you could read the more conservative translation you are comfortable with, but switch to a more readable translation for the passages where you are struggling to pay attention. Regardless of how you stand on the Bible version wars, put some thought into which translation you will read from. This one decision may be the difference between success and failure for you in reading through the whole Bible.

2. The Daily Walk: This is a monthly magazine of daily devotionals, produced by Walk Thru the Bible. It tells you what chapters you need to read each day, gives you a paragraph or two of overview and summary, and gives you a few paragraphs to help you apply the text you read that day. I used this devotional guide for a number of years (although that was many years ago). It was a very helpful aid during my first few trips through the Bible. Assuming there has been no doctrinal drift over the years since I last used this, I would recommend it highly. Every month, when it came in the mail, it was like a little booster shot to my resolve to finish the entire Bible that year. You can subscribe here. You can view a sample here that will take you through the whole month of January.
3. Special Read-Through-the-Bible Bibles. Another helpful tool for reading through the Bible is to use a Bible that is broken up into daily readings already. Walk Thru the Bible has one called The Daily Walk Bible. I’ve never used The Daily Walk Bible, but it is basically the same as The Daily Walk magazine (number 2 above).

   The One Year Bible (New Living Translation edition here) is a product I have used in the past and I think it is very good too. It follows a different method for reading through the Bible. Instead of taking you straight from Genesis to Revelation, it has you read sections every day from the Old and New Testaments as well as Psalms and Proverbs. This variety of daily readings will help you to avoid getting stuck in some of the difficult sections of the Old Testament.

   Another variation of this Bible is The One Year Chronological Bible This version of the Bible is interesting because it attempts to put the text of the Bible in a chronological sequence based on the events. In other words, it interrupts the book of Genesis before you get to Abraham in order to have you read the book of Job because many scholars feel that Job lived before the time of Abraham and his family. Likewise, the prophets are interspersed within the books of Kings and Chronicles and the Epistles are sprinkled in throughout Acts. So, as you read this Bible, you will get a sense of the flow of history as the Bible records it. I have read through this a number of times and I recommend it as a change of pace from the Genesis through Revelation approach to Bible reading.

More tips tomorrow. Until then, read Genesis 5-8 in the Bible version you can best understand.

This is part 3 in a series.

• Part 1 can be found here.
• Part 2 can be found here.

Yesterday I wrote,

Reading through the Bible is hard, but it is not too hard for you.

and

If you finished elementary school, you have the ability to read the Bible through next year.

In the next couple of posts, I will give you some tips and tricks that will show you how to get through the hard stuff.

My first piece of advice is neither a tip nor a trick. It is an admission: If you are going to read through the Bible in one year, it will take a fair amount of self-discipline. There, I said it. Without self-discipline, you’ll never make it. All the tips and tricks in the world cannot substitute for self-discipline. As you read through the Bible in 2008 (or whenever you decide to do it), there will be many times when you have to start reading when you would rather do something else. There will be times when you have to keep reading even though you would rather quit. Self-discipline is the only way to keep going when the going gets tough. And, while self-discipline can become a form of legalism, it is not necessarily incompatible with true Christian growth. See 1 Timothy 4:7.

Self-discipline means choosing to read the Bible when you’d rather go to bed or stay in bed. It is choosing to read God’s Word rather than play another game on your Nintendo Wii or watch “another great episode of Law and Order.”

Self-discipline is tough and if you didn’t develop it as a child, it is more difficult to exercise as an adult. We adults have many other responsibilities that can keep us from doing the most important stuff if we lack self-discipline. For much more on this topic, read Paul Graham’s great essay, “Good and Bad Procrastination.” [But put off reading that until you’ve finished reading this post, OK? Reading it later is an example of “Good Procrastination.” It is also a form of self-discipline, especially if you like Paul Graham’s essays as much as I do. I’ll wait until the end of this post to link to Paul's essay, just to help you put off reading it.]

But even though it is difficult to develop self-discipline, it is not impossible. Adults learn to do it all the time. We decide to stick to a diet, to stop being late, to exercise daily, to get up earlier for a new job, etc. These are all decisions of self-discipline and, although people sometimes start them without following through, many people do follow through. You can, too.

So, my first set of tips and tricks are ones that will help you develop self-discipline.

1. Set a time and a place and guard them like Fort Knox. If you can alter your current set of habits to include reading the Bible for 30 minutes per day, reading through the Bible in a year will not be that difficult. Your life is already highly structured—probably more structured than you realize. Most people wake around the same time each morning and go through the same ritual. Maybe you get up and immediately shower, then shave, then do you hair and so on; or maybe you brush your teeth first or eat breakfast first. Regardless of what your pattern is, most of us have developed a routine—a set of habits—that we follow without directly thinking about each step in the process.

   We start and continue these habits down to the smallest level of detail, too. When you shave or apply makeup, you almost certainly start on the same side of your face every day. We are creatures of habit and our habits structure the way we live.

   Now, to take on a big project like reading the Bible through in a year, you will have to change your current set of habits. If you wait until you remember to read the Bible or until you feel like reading the Bible, you will not make it past Exodus 10 all year long. But, if you consciously change your daily habits to include this spiritual discipline and you keep doing it daily in the same place, at the same time, you’ll be well on your way before Valentine’s Day. Be sure to pick a time that you can easily protect—after the family goes to bed or before they get up; before people arrive at the office or while the kids take their daily naps; during your lunch break or right after dinner. Write it down in your appointment book everyday if you need to. Then when someone wants to get on your schedule at that time, you can tell them truthfully that you have already have an appointment then.

2. Start today; don’t wait for January 1 to roll around. Now that you have decided when and where you are going to read the Bible daily, start today. Read Genesis 1-4 at the time and in the place you chose. If you wait a week it will be that much harder, so start today. Is it cheating to start early? Maybe, but do it anyway. Accomplishing the goal is way more important than doing it within the 366 days (remember: leap year) we will call 2008. This goes for you, too, if you found this essay in my archives and are reading this sometime in July or whatever. Start now. There is no magic on January 1.
3. Tell someone else about your goal and tell them to bug you about your consistency. Accountability is sometimes overrated. After all, we can lie to each other; we lie to ourselves all the time. But when you really want to do something tough and aren’t sure if you have the self-disclipine to do it, having someone check up on you can be a big help, if you are honest. Your spouse lives with you, so it will be harder to lie to him or her, especially if you tell him or her your time and place. In fact, maybe your spouse will decide to join you in this goal, at the same time and maybe even in the same place. It will be better for both of you than watching Law and Order together five nights a week.
4. Make something you like or need dependent on this goal. Do you really like Law and Order that much? Then set a little rule for yourself that you won’t watch it unless and until you have read your four chapters for the day. Someone said, “No Bible, no breakfast.” For you it could be “No Bible, no bed,” but the point is the same: you break your current habits long enough to establish a new one.

More tips and tricks tomorrow. Your assignment right now is to read Genesis 1-4 before today ends. OK?

And now, Paul Graham’s essay, “Good and Bad Procrastination.”

This is part 2 in a series. Part 1 can be found here.

So, if you read part 1 yesterday, two things may have happened. First, a desire you’ve had (maybe for a long time) to read through the whole Bible was stirred. You feel inspired, maybe even determined, to do it next year. But, secondly, you may also feel a good amount of fear.

That is normal. Fear is normal. Feel the fear of failure, but do it anyway.

Because here is a little secret: Reading through the whole Bible is not that hard.

Yes, I know I said yesterday that it was hard.
And, I know I said yesterday that it is harder than you think.

Both of those things are true; but, this is also true: Reading through the Bible is hard, but it is not too hard for you.

It is simple, really. There are 1189 chapters in the Bible. By God’s grace, you and I will have 366 days in 2008. (Yes, 2008 is a leap year.) Divide the first number by the second and you will see that all it takes to read through the Bible in a year is to read just over 3 chapters every day. Round that number up to 4 chapters a day and you can actually miss a few days without falling behind.

If you finished elementary school, you have the ability to read the Bible through next year.

When I was in elementary school, I failed one semester of U.S. history. Why? Because I refused to learn all the states and their capitals. It was too hard. But I’ve managed to read through the whole Bible. Actually, I’ve done it several times.

You can too.

[I did eventually learn those capitals, too. Montgomery, Alabama. Juneau, Alaska. Phoenix, Arizona....]

This is part 1 in a series.

Most Christians want to read through the whole Bible. This probably means you, especially if you’ve never read the whole thing through before. Some of you have tried and failed in the past but you want to try again. Some of you have never tried before and you may not realize how difficult it really is.

So, let me emphasize this: Reading through the Bible is hard. This is especially true if you have never done it before. In life, the first time we do anything is usually the hardest. Remember trying to learn how to ride a bike? Remember the first time you rode a roller coaster, how scared you were? I’ll never forget the first time I was told to add up a long column of numbers that were two digits long or more. My brain freaked out! Now, it’s no big deal. I just get out my calculator!

The first time you do something new, it is almost always harder and more terrifying than you expected. But, after you’ve done it a while, you learn that it is not as hard as you thought it would be when you started.

This is true about reading through the Bible.

But, once you make it through, you’ll want to do it again and you will almost always succeed the second time. If you keep doing it, you may even get to the point where you read it through more than once in a given calendar year.

So, the next several posts will form a series about Bible reading. The purpose of this series is to challenge you to read all 66 books of the Bible before next year ends. This series will show you how and give you some helpful pointers and encouragement to make this dream a reality.