Five Things to Remember when You Start Your Annual Bible Read-Through
Tomorrow! Like many of you, I’ll be starting my annual Bible read-through again. I’ve done this ritual now for many years. I promise it’s worth it. Every single time.
Here are a few things to consider when you get started and as you press through.
1-Our daily reading is an act of faith. By faith we are placing ourselves under the waterfall of God’s truth every day for 365 days. Year after year, as we read the same truth, we will be shaped. Trust this daily habit is forming you. God’s Word accomplishes what God wills.
2-Let’s read to make progress, not perfection. We are fallible and finite humans. We are each likely to get behind at some point. That’s okay. Let’s commit to picking up and starting again, skipping whatever is needed to keep pressing forward. Expecting perfection will lead to burnout.
3-Do not get bogged down in the weeds. Rather than getting derailed by hard passages, let’s mark them and move on. We can come back to them, read study Bible notes, look up articles, and ask our pastors for help later. Let’s keep up our momentum, trusting that God is forming us, even when our understanding is limited.
4-Do a deep dive alongside your daily intake. Reading the Bible in a year only takes about 20 minutes a day. We still have time throughout the week to study various passages deeply. Let’s commit to joining a Bible study or soaking in a specific passage every day for a week or a month (in addition to our daily plan) so we get that deep formation too. There really is time!
5-Read with other people and start and end with prayer. The Word of God, the people of God, and the Spirit of God are three pillars of our faith we cannot grow without. Let’s read with others for accountability and encouragement. And let’s start and end each day’s reading with prayers that both ask for help and offer thanksgiving.
6-One bonus idea, just because I think it’s so practical: consider using an audio Bible to help you stay on plan. It’s not wrong to listen to God’s Word—our scriptures are actually established in oral tradition. I frequently listen to my daily reading first, and then go back to look it over as I pray.
#dailybible #bibleinayear #bible #52weeksintheword
