I have a friend who knows the Bible better than anyone I’ve ever met. At first I thought he was very intelligent but then I found out that he was just very quirky. It turns out he had developed a habit that he had kept quiet for many years. For most of his Christian life he had woken at 5.30am to read ten pages of his Bible. After some trial and error, he realised it was too tempting to go back to sleep. So he decided to put the alarm on the other side of his room so that he had to pull back the covers and walk over to it. He would then stand up and read his Bible while it rested on a music stand, again because he knew his inclination for sleep. I asked him once how many times he had read through the entire Bible and he couldn’t tell me. It was something like four times a year for most of his Christian life. The entire Bible. Four times a year.
Most of us aren’t as disciplined (or as quirky!) as my dear friend, but the single best thing you can do for your growth as a child of God is to get into a habit of regularly reading God’s word. Over the next few posts some members of our church will share how God has grown them through Bible reading. Here are some brief tips to start with.
1. Know what the bible is and isn’t
The Bible isn’t a collection of fables to live your life by. Nor is it a roadmap to discern God’s will for what you should do on any particular day. It’s a story. I know it sounds cheesy but it is the greatest story ever told. It’s God’s revelation to the world about Jesus Christ. The resurrected Jesus said to his disciples:
This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. (Luke 24.44)
The author of Hebrews also put it like this:
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. (Heb 1.1–2)
2. Read the different genres of the bible differently
Not many people get stirred up by reading the dictionary. But reading poetry can be a different experience. We read different genres all the time. And when we do, we read them in varying ways. The same is true of the Bible. It is made up of history, highly symbolic poetry, songs, humour, long sections of civil and moral law, and even some down right raunchy sections (see Song of Songs).
3. Develop a habit of reading large chunks of scripture
There are many ways you can grow as a child of God through reading the Bible. In some seasons of my life I’ve picked a book of the Bible, read it in smaller sections and then meditated on those words. I repeated this until I knew the book intimately.
The model I find myself returning to most often, though, is regularly reading larger chunks of the Bible. My current aim is to read through it all in one year. Although this sounds like a lot, it’s quite doable. Every week in our church email we have five readings that will take you through the entire Bible each year. Five readings over seven days. It works out to be about 10–15 mins of reading per day.
I have found this habit has helped me to understand that the Bible is one story all about Jesus.
4. Remember that reading the bible is a means to an end, not an end in itself
At the end of the day, how you read the Bible isn’t anywhere near as important as why you read the Bible—to grow in your knowledge and love of God. The goal of any spiritual discipline is to grow in our maturity in Christ (Col 1.28).
The more reading the Bible becomes a habit for you, the more you will grow as a child of God. And that will be obvious to those who see you.
One day I’d love to introduce you to my friend. He’s by no means perfect but the fruit of his daily habit is obvious to anyone who meets him. You can see how his knowledge of the Bible has developed in him a deep love of Jesus and other people.
In his book, Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis describes what it’s like to meet someone like this:
Every now and then one meets them. Their very voices and faces are different from ours: stronger, quieter, happier, more radiant. They begin where most of us leave off. They are, I say, recognisable; but you must know what to look for. They will not be very like the idea of ‘religious people’ which you have formed from your general reading. They do not draw attention to themselves. You tend to think that you are being kind to them when they are really being kind to you.
What about you? What have you found helpful in reading the Bible?