Guilt-free Bible Reading
Why are we scared of the very book that defines everything we believe? Why is the Old Testament a closed book to so many of us? Why is the 'what about the God of the Old Testament?' question the one we hope we won’t get asked?
It just might be that we don’t read it.
Ron Frost, in his book Discover the Power of the Bible suggests a highly innovative solution! Read it. Just read it. Take 10 chapters a day, and read it like a novel. Highlight any verses that strike you along the way but just read it.
Just reading it doesn’t mean no time to slow down. Perhaps one of our problems is that we try a mid-speed reading that is neither slow enough or quick enough. Lukewarm. The answer might just be to go really fast and really slow. As you speed through, take one book really slowly too.
And all completely guilt free. No dated plan. Just read it. No worries if you get behind. No pride if you get ahead.
The fear factor disappears when you can get through the whole Old Testament in three months, and the New in another month. The plot becomes much clearer when you arrive at Sinai just one week after the creation of the world, as a student I’m mentoring discovered last week.
The whole Bible sits on the Pentateuch. Jesus said it was all written about him. And when you can read the first five books of the Bible in less than three weeks it’s not so hard to see how. Themes and threads and plot lines hold together when you pick up the pace.
Chase God as you read! Follow what he’s doing, and it turns out that it’s actually the same God in Genesis as John’s gospel, the same God in Exodus as 1 Corinthians, the same God in Levitcus as Hebrews. Same God, same story.
Ron writes:
Sam, a retired missionary, was planting a church on the coast of British Columbia north of Vancouver, and two of us on a summer mission were helping with the building construction. We ate breakfast with Sam each morning in his beachside cottage before starting work. On each occasion we managed to trigger a delightful discourse of biblical truth. As often as not he’d start with quotes from Genesis and end up in Revelation after touching down four or five times in between.
Sam’s Bible knowledge amazed me. His Scripture awareness had penetrated all aspects of his life, not in a rote fashion, but in a way that seemed accessible and practical. I asked how he gained it and he laughed.
“I just read my Bible.”
“How much reading—how do you approach it?”
“I try to get through it at least two or three times a year.”
I almost dropped my coffee. He had been reading at that pace for most of his Christian life, about fifty years!
Don’t wait until January 1st and make Bible reading another failed New Year’s Resolution, just open up the Bible and start chasing God through the pages. Ten chapters of reading a day takes about four months. Do it by listening and it’s about 70 hours, which is less time than a series of X-Factor… Pursue God today as he pursues you.
Comments
By Dan Hayter on 26/11/2012 at 09:13
Excellent post Dave.
By Andrew Wilson on 26/11/2012 at 09:50
Nice. Very helpful ...
By Hazel Flood on 26/11/2012 at 10:22
Thanks for the superb post..love it!!
By Karla Willows on 26/11/2012 at 10:54
Getting bible out now
thanks.
By Daniel Partridge on 26/11/2012 at 11:02
This is quality Bish. Bookmarked…
By Dave Bish on 26/11/2012 at 12:09
Thinking about it a full series of X-Factor is probably slightly less than 70 hours, though if you include the bits like Xtra-factor its about right… Nonetheless 70 hours isn’t long.
By RichP on 26/11/2012 at 18:44
Thanks Dave. New that you actually loved X-Factor.
I’ve got a question - when reading a novel, I’ll rarely get to chunks that I genuinely don’t understand. This happens when I read the Bible though - in the interest of “read it, just read it”, should I just keep going and after a few years I will find it all fits together much more clearly? Or should I stop and study around it, etc? Not that the word “should” is the right word, but what would you / Ron advise?
By Pete Thorne on 26/11/2012 at 20:58
So going to try this!
By Andrew on 27/11/2012 at 12:00
Yeah, I loved this too, Dave. In April 2012 Terry Virgo tweeted… “You don’t read your Bible to impress God. You read it to meet God. If you forget to read it, don’t feel guilty; thirsty yes.” 140 well-used characters!
By dave on 27/11/2012 at 20:13
Rich,
If you get stuck, note it and maybe study it another time. But in
“Just reading” press on and trust it’ll resolve later in the book, Bible, or just next time, or the time after,...
By Paul Hunnisett on 30/11/2012 at 18:58
While I completely agree with your encouragement to “just read it” I have to say that I think most people will find 10 chapters a day far too much to manage. Especially when they get past the narrative bits.
By Gareth Batten on 31/12/2012 at 13:05
I read the Bible through ‘in one go’ for the first time after Mike Reeve’s interview with Ron changed the way I read it.
He recounts the same story, I think, about breakfast and it blew me away:
http://www.theologynetwork.org/table-talk/2009-04/table-talk-007—gods-heart-and-ours
(I have to say, I agree with Paul H - part of what helped me was that it’s a plan that has absolutely no targets other than to meet with God and hear him speak.)