You don’t feed steak to a baby. You start with milk and gently work into solid food. In the same way, when you start reading the Bible you shouldn’t start by reading 5 chapters a day, but with something more digestible. A passage or a few verses will to satisfy appetite. I’m sure that no Christian thinks that reading the Bible is bad and will hurt their faith, but most still struggle to consistently get into the Word. There are so many reasons people struggle to read the Bible, but also so many ways to read the Bible well.

Why Read the Bible

Nowhere in the Bible does it say, thou shalt read the Bible once a day for half an hour. So why is it important to read it? Well first, what is the Bible? A good explanation from the Candeo Church is, “The Holy Bible is God‘s revelation of Himself to man and is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth – without any mixture of error – for its matter.” So simply put the Bible is God’s revelation to man, made for man by God, in order for man to learn about God (2 Timothy 3:15-16). So it is important to read the Bible to learn about the character and will of God.

If you need more convincing, there are also a number of mind-blowing statistics that go along with reading the Bible. According to Lifeway Research reading the Bible 4 days a week does the following:

1. “Feeling lonely drops 30%
2. Anger issues drop 32%
3. Bitterness in relationships drops 40%
4. Alcoholism drops 57%
5. Sex outside of marriage drops 68%
6. Feeling spiritually stagnant drops 60%
7. Viewing pornography drops 61%
8. Sharing your faith jumps 200%
9. Discipling others jumps 230%”

What to Read

There are no bad books to read. But there are books that are easier to read and some that are good for people to read in the beginning. One good goal, that everyone should strive for is to read the entirety of the Bible. This sounds incredibly daunting, but if you are choosing to live by what the Bible says at some point you should want to read the entire book. However, that is not saying that before you become a follower of Christ you have to read every word. Because the only prerequisite of following Christ is having faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-10). Then in following you should want to learn more. There are many starting points and ways to go about this. If you are looking to try to start reading the Bible, here are a few good starting points:

Genesis: Just start at the beginning. Genesis gives a good picture of how we got here, who we are as sinful people, and who God is as a perfect creator.

The Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. Any one of these would be a good option to start with. They all follow the life of Jesus, showing his perfect life, death, and resurrection.

Romans: This book gives good theological backing to many Christian beliefs. As well as simply depicting the gospel. Underlining how we are sinful people destined for death, but God provided a way back to himself through Jesus’s life and death.

How to Read the Bible Well

Like I said in the introduction, if you’re new to reading don’t feel obligated to read 30 pages a day like you might in a new novel. Simply start with a story or two and make that a habit of reading daily. Reading the Bible is more about thinking and meditating on what God is doing in the words than the actual number of words read.

Before you start to read, pray. Pray that God will open your heart to the words you’re about to read. Then there are so many ways someone can read and understand the Bible. One way that I enjoy is the OIA method, I just grab a notebook and do the following:

Observe – Write down everything that stands out. Go to town writing down the interesting things, the weird things, and the things you don’t really understand. Write down any questions you have about the text.

Interpret – Next think about the overarching message the passage is trying to exemplify. What would it mean to the original audience at that time? What does it say about who God is?

Apply – Finally, what does this mean for us today? Looking through what it does to your head, heart, and hands. First the head, what does this story look like through the lens of Jesus Christ and the gospel. Next heart, what does it say about what we worship (what you should and shouldn’t worship)? Finally hands, what does this passage call you to do? Maybe it is to cut sin out of your life or to go and live your life on a mission.

Lastly, get creative in reading. When we make goals, we tend to get super creative in trying to complete them. If I want to start working out, I will bring my friends in to keep me accountable. Or if I want to be more productive I’ll start to make to-do lists. And if I want to start doing better in class, I’m going to set up times to study and think about that class outside of the classroom. In the same way we should get creative in reading the Bible. If your goal is to read the entire book, bring your friends in so they can keep you accountable. Make a list of all the books of the Bible and cross them off as you complete it. And set aside actual time to read and be in union with God.

If you take one thing from this, let it be that the Bible is God’s Word to you. He wants you to hear his Word. Will you listen?

By: Aaron Hershberger