Thinking about daily Bible reading

It's a good time to think about how to give to the Bible the place it deserves in your life. I'll begin by trying to suggest we still engage our common sense as we think it through.

Make reading the Bible the first thing you do every day : Yeah. Right. That will be great for some people, but for others it's a disaster. Some of us provide the best supportive evidence for the theory of human evolution every morning as we slowly pass through various stages - emerging from the depths, discovering the ability to stand erect, communication by grunts, then the first words emerge... it takes quite a lot of coffee to push-start our one remaining synapse and get it to fire. Hey - find the time that works best for you.

Read 30 minutes a day. OK... But might it not be better to have a more constructive goal? Imagine if we advised people to cook their main meal for 1/2 hour a day. "Cook 30 minutes then eat whatever you got." That's nuts! Or "let's drive 1/2 hour then holiday there." Now you may know that you have 30 minutes, or 15, or whatever, so that does limit your choices. Duck cooked three ways, or a full roast can't be done in 30 minutes. Pasta with a spicy tomato sauce can... What if our goal in reading the Bible wasn't so fixed on the time spent, but on the goal of growing as Christians by knowing Jesus better?

"This is the way to do it. Read, colour in the promises, commands and stuff, pray then go." Imagine if every meal was boiled. Or fried. Now sometimes you have to. If you live in a bed-sit with one gas ring then stir-frying will be a big part of your life. But a variety of ways of cooking brings joy as well as health benefits.

Here's some things that have helped me at different times.

1) Reading big chunks. When I was a student I discovered that you can read a whole Bible book at once, so on Sunday afternoons I'd just read through 1 Samuel, or Obadiah, or John, or 1 Thessalonians, or Revelation.

2) Bible reading notes. A series of little books that were published together as "Adventure with God", edited by Ro Willoughby, had a huge effect on my life when I was first working and commuting in the big city. The book is out of print, but "This morning with God" and "Search the Scriptures" edited by Alan Stibbs, have similar approaches. Search the Scriptures is so good that we buy second hand copies and give them away. It's also available in French as Soif de la Parole, as well as in pdf format.

3) Bible reading plans. The McCheyne bible reading plan gives passages to read each day to take you through the Bible in a year. Some people do half the plan and so take two years. There are other plans like the 5x5 plan that gives you readings for week-days allowing you to catch up at weekends for days missed. Chronological plans take you through the Bible in chronological order. The advantage of plans is that you get readings from different parts of the Bible each day.

4) The One Year Bible. This is the Bible Reading Plan for dummies. You get a book with the Bible chopped up by date. If you can find out the date you can find your reading for the day. I LOVE these books.

5) Apps. There are now apps that will do the same os the One Year Bible, right there on your phone! You can read in the bus, in the tram, in the café, in the waiting room, wherever you are. The best place is still in a nice armchair with a hot drink within reach.

6) Podcasts! This was the major discovery of the last few years. People will read the Bible to you! Every day! They'll do it in other languages, too! And you can get excellent short reflections on passages, too, delivered to your phone each day by normally inaccessible people like Sinclair Ferguson, R C Sproul or many others. For language learners the Bible is our secret weapon. Read the psalms in whatever language you are learning, for example. Or get it read to you!

7) Videos. This may be the discovery of this year. Readings where you can see the reader and carefully chosen images of deep-space or ants or rolling waves. I'm still a bit unsure who to recommend, but The Bible Project is generally pretty good, with a few odd things here and there. I have just discovered sixminutesermons.com, and what I've seen so far seems great. I have a few warning notes to sound. Firstly if people won't tell you what they believe in the form of a confession of faith or a well-known group they belong to, then maybe they're hiding something. Secondly, when food smells off or tastes weird you know not to swallow. Similarly, if something sounds way out there, then that maybe be because it is. If you're confused, get advice. I'm waiting for the videos that show cats reading the Bible to you. That would be just so addictive!

In short, find a way that suits you and go for it. And remember, your goal is not to succeed at doing your daily readings. That's just unworthy! Your goal is to get to know Jesus better through his word, and so to grow more like him.