How-To Actually Read the Whole Bible
Exactly one year ago a church friend posted on FB that her mom would be hosting a weekly gathering to read the Bible together in 2022 and the invitation was open. I committed to a month. I figured a month was a good start for me and I could give myself the freedom to back out if life demanded the hour-long meeting time back. Besides I’d tried reading the whole Bible before and it never worked… so why overcommit myself, right?
I made it through January…
Then February…
Then March and April and May…
All the way until now.
As I write this, I only have a couple days of the Bible left to read and then I will have read the Bible cover-to-cover and in the order it all happened.
It has transformed my understanding and appreciation for the Bible.
I have tried to read the Bible all the way through before, but never was able to finish…
What was the difference this time? There are two reasons.
And I believe this is how I think everybody should read the whole Bible, at least once.
First — Read it chronologically.
When I read it in the order it happened, It finally began to make sense. Yes, even Leviticus and Deuteronomy and other Old Testament books!
Because the Bible really is one big story.
And when you read it chronologically, it actually reads like a story – a story that really can be understood.
Scripture tells us over and over again how important it is to seek understanding and wisdom through the scriptures. (See 2nd Timothy 3, Psalm 119, Ephesians 4, 2nd Peter 3, Matthew 4, Revelation 22, Romans 15, Colossians 2, and so many more!)
Ultimately, this comes down to bible literacy.
As Iva May puts it:
Bible literacy makes or breaks God’s people spiritually.
CBT.com
She goes on to say, God’s people “prosper when they treasure His Word, and they fall into sin and judgment when they neglect it.”
This has been proven again and again throughout history. It’s the cycle of God’s people.
In our modern culture, Bible Literacy has never been more important.
We live in an age of false teachers, as well as quick and adamant diversion from THE Truth… not just “your truth” or “his truth” or “her truth,” but THE Truth.
So when I say reading this entire book is transformational – I’m not being dramatic.
Second — Read it with others.
I read it chronologically with a small group of women from my church, and we met weekly (minus holidays or when people were sick, etc.) — every Tuesday morning from 9:30-11am. The group dwindled a bit in size as the year went on, but the committed core group held each other accountable to the end via our meet-ups and our GroupMe chat. Even when reading was missed or skipped or whatever, we kept meeting.
This is the Bible we used.
And we followed Iva May’s teaching of the 14 eras, reviewing the major stories of these eras every week we met.
This particular Bible offers excellent summarizations each day and at the start of each biblical era, as well as offers discussion questions. Each reading is approximately only 2-3 pages long and shouldn’t take longer than 10-15 minutes a day. That’s long enough for a carline reading or waiting for dinner to cook in the oven.
Here are my best tips for committing to reading the Bible chronologically in one year:
- Read with a small group of friends. This is my #1 tip. Accountability matters. And their input, wisdom, and perspective on the reading matters. Meet weekly, bi-weekly, or even monthly to summarize together and ask questions.
- If you miss a day, double up the next day. (And so forth…)
- Read ahead if you know you’ll be scrunched for time in the day(s) ahead.
- Don’t stop. If you miss what feels like too much, pick up on the assigned date, don’t stress over what was missed, and keep going.
I hope you’ll consider reading the whole Bible chronologically in 2023.
I bet it will transform you too…