A 2012 survey of 2900 USA Protestant churchgoers conducted by LifeWay Research revealed that only 19 percent of Christians read the Bible daily. The Christians who make up that 19 percent don’t necessarily approach Bible reading systematically, and therefore may not have read through the entire Bible. These statistics demonstrate a great need among Christians today.
God teaches in His word that He will be found by those who seek Him. How much are we seeking Him if we aren’t reading His word? Isaiah says that He comes on thirsty ground. How much thirst do we demonstrate if we aren’t reading the revelation He has given us? Jesus said “Now this is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.” (John 17:3) How do we get to know Him if we are ignoring the means He has given us to know Him?
Further research by Barna Research reveals that over sixty percent of Christians wish they were reading the Bible more often than they currently are. There are many reasons for their not doing so. They feel overwhelmed by the prospect of reading such a sizable book. The idea of plodding through some of the more difficult passages looms unpleasantly. Their schedule doesn’t allow time for reading the Bible every day. They have tried it before, perhaps many times, and failed, concluding that it’s not possible or reasonable to read through it.
I want to help Christians who find themselves in such a position. I know from experience the defeat of not doing the good I want to do. However, reading the Bible is not an area of defeat for me; in fact, it has become a passion of mine. That doesn’t make me a saint; no, it makes me someone who has been so abundantly transformed by Jesus’ power that I have become the opposite of what I once was. I want to see others cast off the bonds of defeat that keep them from reading the Bible. I want to share the love of God’s word that He has miraculously given me and help other Christians where I am strong, with the strength God has given me. I am burning to see defeated Christians transformed into victorious Christians in an area where God has gifted me with the resources to help.
My goal with this blog is to help people read through the Bible in a year. That accomplishment will require you to read an average of four chapters a day. You may need no more help than a schedule for reading that you can check off; I will provide that. If you need some cheerleading, I intend to provide that. If you need some insight into the difficult passages, I hope to provide that. I also desire to challenge you with questions that will guide you in seeking what God is saying in His word, and with concepts that will help you apply what you are reading to your life. Through all of this, I desire to impart skills in understanding God’s word on your own. My prayer is that by the end of this year you will have built into your own life the habit of being in God’s word daily, and you will be a lay student of the Bible for life.
I am a lay person who has read through the Bible more times than I have counted, and studied it extensively. I used to find the Bible dull and unintelligible despite having established reading it as a daily habit that I suffered through. That changed when I asked God to change me. You will read more of my experience throughout the year. I learned inductive Bible study in the course of earning a Bible minor at Cedarville College (now Cedarville University), and I seek to understand what God intends each passage to mean before applying that truth to me individually. My foremost rule of study is that Scripture is the best interpreter of Scripture, and so I seek to understand difficult passages in light of what other passages of Scripture teach.
My intended audience is the kind of Christian I have described, who is inexperienced in reading through the Bible in a systematic way. I will be praying for all who are reading with the help of this blog, that they will find victory and be transformed into Bible students who continue to read and study God’s word daily and grow to know Him more and more intimately. Hopefully other Bible readers will participate, and perhaps share in the experience by praying for those who need it as well.
The plan for reading through the Bible this year is a chronological reading. This plan will not take us straight through the Bible. I have found that putting passages into the context of their chronology gives them more meaning than reading them outside of their historical context. This means that we will not be reading each book of the Bible consecutively.
I hope and pray that my help and encouragement can give you a hand up in this great undertaking of reading through the Bible in a year. I will offer a couple preliminary posts to start the year with some perspective and encouragement before beginning with the first actual reading on January 1st. You can do this! We will do it together, with God’s help!