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Celebrating a Season of Intense Bible Reading

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We just completed our 2020 Bible reading challenge. Congratulations to all who participated, even if you didn’t make it all the way through, I trust this season of voluminous Bible reading was beneficial to you.

Congratulations to our grand prize winner, Barbara J., and our second prize winner, Kevin C. And congratulations to all 38 who completed the challenge and submitted entries to the drawing. Here are some of the things people had to say about the experience:

It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it might be.

When doing a year-long read-through, I was only reading a few chapters a day and tended to forget what I read the previous day. Reading big chunks like this made it much easier to see themes, repeated terms, and to connect books to books. I found more of an emotional connection as well, which surprised me. Lamentations moved me more because I had so recently read of Jeremiah’s ministry. Reading Isaiah and the other Old Testament prophets this way was a powerful experience.

This is my third year in this reading challenge. I can’t wait until next year’s challenge. [Perhaps the fourth year will be the year of the prize for you! – PJK] I have commented in the past years that I find reading the narratives rather easy but got lost in Isaiah’s poetry. This year was different. Isaiah actually started flowing much easier for me. I also noticed that reading the Gospels (all four in nine days!) I started noticing the differences more readily. I already knew that each Gospel author shapes similar scenes for their own purpose but this year I noticed that Matthew in recording the scene with the Sadducees about the resurrection didn’t record Jesus reminding them of Moses standing at the burning bush like Mark and Luke. I think that reading the whole Bible in 90 days allows me to see the depth of its riches in ways that small bites do not.

I cried big ugly tears the day I finished, God has changed me into a Bible reader and I never thought I could be.

I didn’t think I would be able to do it … I have to admit that because this is BY FAR the quickest I have read through the Bible, I did not retain as much, but I plan on doing a 90-day plan at least once a year moving forward. It also gives me confidence that I can read the Bible aloud to my family and it not take a lifetime!

Loved it, as always. It’s a great habit on multiple levels (set the tone for the year, jump start general reading for the year, reminds of the framework of the Bible for sermon prep and general study, etc.) I will probably do this at the beginning of each year forever.

This has consistently been one of the most useful things for my faith at the beginning of each year.

It was great to see the witness of Scripture to God’s long suffering character and desire for obedience. I have been wrestling with my understanding of Spiritual gifts, and to read all the epistles quickly gave me a great sense of the emphasis of God’s will on obedience and love.

Now, of course, not everyone is bursting at the seams with enthusiasm. This is not for everyone. I appreciate the honesty I received from those who gave it a try but decided it wasn’t for them:

It was a bit too much reading at one time and I would have to constantly refocus because my mind would start to wander. But not being in any one book for very long kept things interesting.

I didn’t like it mainly because I like to stop and meditate on what I just read/listened to from scripture.

May this season of front-loaded saturation in God’s Word set a good tone for the rest of your year. Lord willing, we’ll be back to do it again in 2021.

Mastering Book I of the Psalms

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After completing my annual speed-read of the Bible, I like to follow Joe Carter’s plan for how to change your mind. Carter’s plan is simply to select a book of the Bible, read it 20 times in a row, and then move on to another book and do the same. After following that plan for 3 years, I’ve covered 20 books of the Bible, alternating between shorter books and longer ones. This discipline has been the most effective practice I’ve ever followed to help me master these books.

And for most of 2020, I’ve decided to tackle the third-longest book of the Bible: Psalms. (I already covered the second-longest, Genesis, in 2017. The first-longest, Jeremiah, still glares at me threateningly from an undisclosed rendezvous in my future timeline.)

To help me grasp the book’s ebbs and flows, and to prevent too much sensation of swimming in molasses, I’ve decided to consume the book of Psalms according to its five subdivisions, called “books.” Most Bibles will put headings over those five books: Psalms 1-41, 42-73, 74-89, 90-106, and 107-150.

So for now, I’m reading only Psalms 1-41 repeatedly (about to finish my 11th repetition). After 20 times there, I’ll move on to Book II, and so on.

Image by Nathan Williams from Pixabay

The Data I’m Collecting

I’m creating a spreadsheet to help me analyze the psalms and the book’s larger structure. You can find the fruit of my labors here. (I’ll also post it on the blog’s Resources page, so you can easily find it in the future.)

On the spreadsheet, I’m tracking every ascription and description given for a psalm. I’m also tracking every psalm that uses the term “psalm,” “choirmaster,” or “selah.”

But besides such trivia, I’m also tracking which psalms are acrostics (where each verse or stanza begins with a subsequent letter of the Hebrew alphabet), what sort of poem each psalm is, which NT verses directly quote from each psalm.

And above all, I’m recording what I believe to be the main point of each psalm. My purpose in doing this is not to erase or ignore the nature of the poetry, which is typically intended to be felt and pondered and not merely reduced to a logical proposition. My purpose is simply to recognize that each psalm is profitable for teaching, correcting, reproving, and/or training in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16). And when I’m feeling especially discouraged about a particular sin that doesn’t seem to go away—to give a practical example—I would like the spreadsheet to help me remember the psalm whose primary purpose is to ask God not to discipline me in anger as my sin deserves. (In case you’re wondering, it’s Psalm 38.)

What I’m Gleaning

The biggest lesson for me so far is that the Psalms are clearly arranged with intention. This is no random assortment of devotional poems. The five books of Psalms have been set in their order to communicate a number of overarching themes designed to infect the prayer and worship of God’s people. To give only one example of the purposeful arrangement, notice how Book I has four psalms with an acrostic structure (marked in column H of the spreadsheet). No other Book has an acrostic, until Book V, which also has exactly four. This can’t be a coincidence.

For a brief, yet brilliant, take on the book of Psalms see the Bible Project video below. While I differ with them on a few details, I find their broad insight into the book quite stimulating. These guys are the ones who set me down the path of seeing the intentionality behind the book’s arrangement.

With respect to Book I, I was intrigued by the proposal that Psalms 15-24 make up an extended chiasm (a structure where the second half is a mirror image in parallel to the first half). As I have dug into these psalms myself, I can’t help but wonder whether the chiasm extends out all the way to Psalms 3-35. I’ve color-coded the parallel pairs in the spreadsheet.

Many commentators, not only those at The Bible Project, agree that Psalms 1-2 provide an introduction to the entire book. This introductions establishes a blessing on those who 1) hold fast to God’s Word and 2) submit to God’s King. I find it unsurprising that the center of the Book I chiasm consists of Psalms 19 & 20, which have the same pair of themes.

Not all proposed pairings are self-evident. But many are uncanny. For example, in Psalm 4, David asks God to answer him when he calls (Psalm 4:1), and in Psalm 34, David praises God for hearing him when he called (Psalm 34:6).

This leads to another insight I’ve gleaned, which is that there is clear movement over the course of the book. Each psalm, and even subsets of verses of a psalm, could be read or prayed in isolation as an act of worship (here are two examples). But at the same time, there is a broad movement over the course of the book that is worth following.

For example, consider only Book I. After introducing the main themes of the book in Psalms 1-2 (blessing on the one who trusts God’s Word and God’s King), the editor presents 39 psalms connected—with only one exception—to David. And in these psalms, we see a high percentage of laments and requests for help from persecution (19 psalms). Intertwined throughout are occasional psalms of praise or blessing (13 psalms). But most of the “praise” psalms even focus on praise for the opportunity to request help when life is tough (Psalms 9-10, 18, 21, 30, 33, 34, 40).

The first praise psalm (Psalm 8) is about how God set a human to reign as king over creation against God’s enemies. And the last praise psalm (Psalm 40) gives thanks for past deliverance in order to request further deliverance in the future (Ps 40:13-17). The rejoicing over past deliverance flows right out of the requests in Psalms 36-39. And the request for future deliverance sets up the Book’s final psalm (Psalm 41), which is as much a confession of faith as a lament over poor circumstances. “Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble Yahweh delivers him” (Ps 41:1).

Putting it together, we see the following flow of thought through Book I:

  • Blessed is the one who trusts God’s Word and God’s King – Pss 1-2
  • David was a king who trusted God’s Word through all sorts of turmoil – Pss 3-18
  • Center of chiasm: The king asks God to align his words with God’s words, and the people ask God to save the king – Pss 19-20
  • But David is not the end of the story. He has yet to be freed from oppression, sickness, and personal sin. He is not yet vindicated as the true Son of God. There must be something more – Pss 21-41

This leaves us wondering whether Book II might suggest what is that “something more.”

Reflections Upon Reading the Entire Bible Aloud to My Kids

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Just a few days ago, we hit a major milestone for our family: We completed reading the entire Bible aloud. I promised my daughter, on her 6th birthday, that we would do this by her 18th birthday. And it took much less time than I expected: A few months from now, she will turn 11. We have plenty of time to do it again.

You can read more about why and how we did this in two previous posts (here and here). But here is a summary:

  • Once per week, we spent 45-60 minutes reading out loud. We would occasionally stop for questions, but mostly just kept reading.
  • The children were not required to sit still and listen. They could do anything they wanted during the time, as long as 1) it didn’t involve anything noisy or electronic, and 2) it didn’t require them to leave the living room. Matchbox cars, legos, board game bits, comic books, chess sets, sketch pads, and art supplies all got liberal use during family Bible reading time.
  • Bible reading was followed immediately by dinner together, when we might discuss some portion of the text we read. Then we were off to evening activities.
  • We would miss 5-10 weeks per year on account of traveling or extraordinary activities. But we made a habit of treating Sunday afternoon Bible reading time as nonnegotiable.
  • I began reading the ESV, but I switched to the CSB somewhere late in the Pentateuch or early in the OT historical books.
  • I read the OT in canonical order. I read the NT according to four tracks. The children took turns selecting a gospel, and then I would read that gospel and all additional NT books associated with it. Then the next child would choose another gospel, and so on. We had fun offering the fourth child a “choice” between Mark and Mark.
Jan Rowley, Creative Commons

What’s Next?

We’re going to take a break from sustained reading aloud. For at least the next year, I plan to repurpose the time to teach the children an overview of each book of the Bible. We’ll cover a book each week, and I want to provide them with notes on the author, audience, occasion, structure, and main point of each book.

I trust this series of overviews will give them something they can refer to as their own Bible study matures. And it will give us some much-needed variety in our family routine.

But once we get through all of the books, I expect to go back to extended reading time. I think I’ll mix it up by using a chronological reading order.

How Did it Go?

I believe these 5 years of extended Bible reading have been great for our family. They have opened a multitude of discussion topics, as we sought to process whatever biblical material was before us. This led us naturally into conversations about love and romance, suffering and persecution, evil and judgment, morality and theology, church and family life.

I couldn’t make a systematic curriculum out of the topics that came up in discussion, but I can’t overstate the value of having our topics for conversation be driven by whatever questions the kids had about what we were reading. Instead of me asking them all the questions—as used to be the case in our prior family devotions—they were asking me questions. Sometimes, I would ask a few comprehension questions to make sure they could follow what was happening in the text. But normally, if they didn’t have any questions, we would simply continue forward.

Final Reflections

Here are some thoughts, now that I’ve completed the experience:

  1. Find whatever motivates you to get your children simmering in the Scriptures. For years, I tried doing daily family devotions, with a published guide and everything. And if that works for you, do it. But it didn’t work for us. I was never excited about reading only a few verses at a time, and then asking a series of questions provided by someone who had never met my children. And with my motivation low, it was very difficult to build a disciplined habit. But once we started simply reading for lengthy stretches, I couldn’t wait for it to come each week.
  2. Don’t underestimate what your children can handle. My oldest (twins) are now 13, and my youngest is 3. All six children participated in family Bible reading time. And all, I believe, have come to enjoy it and benefit from it. (As I’ve mentioned before, though, I don’t mean to paint too homely and rosy of a picture. I’m sure almost all of them would select playtime at a friend’s house, or a movie night, instead of family Bible reading if given the choice.) Because I respect them enough to hear and respond to all Scripture (including lists of names, lengthy prophetic poems, codes of ritual instructions, and narratives of unsavory behavior), they have grown in their own respect for Scripture and for its relevance to what they face in life.
  3. While daily dipping has a place, so does periodic immersion. Though we haven’t had daily family devotions, we still train our children to spend personal time in the Scripture every day. Many of them prefer to listen to an audio Bible while doing chores or drawing picture; a few prefer to read the Bible with their own eyes. Whatever the format, these daily dips into Scripture are shaping their loves and their thinking. And our weekly, hour-long reading sessions have taken their exposure to the Lord’s Word to a whole new level. Those lengthier immersions have done much to make us feel like this is our story. These are our people. This is our God and our Messiah, and we are his flock.

To be clear: I’m not trying to persuade you to do what we have done. I just know the guilt and demotivation I felt from the expectation for family Bible instruction to take a certain shape. I was delighted to discover a creative alternative. Perhaps you’ll discover something else entirely that works best for your family.

Do whatever it takes to be in the Word with your kids. If you don’t, someone or something else will fill the gap and captivate their hearts.

And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. 

And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods… And they provoked the Lord to anger. They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies… And they were in terrible distress.

Judges 2:10-15

Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in his ways! 
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; 
you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. 

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine 
within your house; 
your children will be like olive shoots 
around your table. 
Behold, thus shall the man be blessed 
who fears the Lord. 

The Lord bless you from Zion! 
May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem 
all the days of your life! 
May you see your children’s children! 
Peace be upon Israel!

Psalm 128:1-6

4 Ways to Revolutionize Your Bible Reading

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I really appreciate this provocative piece from Peter Leithart with “4 Ways to Revolutionize Your Bible Reading.”

Here is a taste of Leithart’s 4 suggestions.

1. Trust the text

“What I really mean is: trust the Author. At bottom, that means believing this book is God’s speech in human language. These words are God’s words. If you don’t believe that, nothing else I say will make much sense.”

2. There are no shortcuts

“Whether reading a poem or a biblical book or the whole Bible, there are no shortcuts. Read, then re-read, then re-re-read, until the whole book goes with you through every verse. Only then will the text come to seem natural.”

3. Find and mimic readers who are better than you are

“Find someone whose reading of the Bible electrifies and delights you, someone who makes your heart burn. Listen. Mimic. As you read, imagine he’s standing at your shoulder pointing to all the things you missed.”

4. Worship at a church with a Bible-saturated liturgy

“Many churches with “Bible” in the name rarely have much Bible in worship. The hymns contain small snatches of Scripture. The pastor reads a few verses for his sermon text, but otherwise little of the Bible is read and heard. By a weird irony, many traditionally liturgical churches are more immersed in Scripture than Bible-believing evangelical ones are.”

There is much to consider here. I encourage you to check it out!

Unbelief, and Not Busyness, is What Keeps You from the Word

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Please do check out this piece by Rachel Jankovic on “Lies That Keep Women from the Word.” Nobody neglects to take a shower, eat a meal, or put on underwear because they are too busy to do so. Such things never fail, because we assume that we must do them, like it or not. They are part of life.

So why does “busyness” become an excuse for not devouring the words of eternal life?

Imagine if you thought that in order for a green bean to nourish you, you had to eat it in a calm place with nice lighting and no kids. What if a shower cleaned you only when you had a journal on hand to write about it? Or what if toothpaste worked only in Instagrammable moments?

Many Christian women do without the word of God. We have set our standards so unbiblically high for the moments in which we will read the Bible that we have devalued the word itself. The value of the Bible is not in the accessories we bring to it. It is not in study guides and long talks with friends. The nourishment of the word is not found in our organization, or in our self-discipline, or in our achievement of any kind. The word has priceless value without us — and we are invited to partake of it all the time.

At its heart this issue is not an issue of whether we will make time for God’s word. It is an issue of what we believe God’s word to be and do.

If you have recognized yourself in any of this, I would like to invite you to make a change. Not a change of increased intentionality or thoughtfulness. A change to start believing in faith that the Bible really is what it says it is. We call ourselves Christians — and Christ himself said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4).

As Ryan has written, you have enough time to study the Bible. We always do what we want to do. And Jankovic will help you to address the underlying beliefs that get in the way.

Check it out!

5 Ways to Read More of the Bible

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J.A. Medders has some terrific advice to help you read more of the Bible. At its core, his essential counsel cannot be improved on: Just read the Bible. But we have so many expectations regarding what Bible reading time should look like, that we often fail to read simply because we can’t meet our accumulated expectations!

So Medders offers 2 rejections and 3 practices to encourage you to just read.

  1. Reject needing the Instagrammable scenario (you don’t need an undistracted 30 minutes or a perfect cup of coffee; just read).
  2. Reject the checkbox (you don’t need to wait for enough time to complete a predetermined selection of text; just read).
  3. Read on your phone (make use of technology and downtime; it is no less valuable or spiritual).
  4. Read without study speed bumps (just keep going and don’t feel like the time is wasted if you don’t look into every curiosity).
  5. Read in community (“teamwork makes the dream work”).

This is great and encouraging advice. Just keep reading, and God will use it.

Check it out!

Announcing Our 2020 90-Day Bible Reading Challenge

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We’re giving away a copy of the ESV Reader’s Bible, Six-Volume Set: With Chapter and Verse Numbers and a one-volume reader’s Bible. To win one of these prizes, you simply have to prove you’d know what to do with it.

If you’ve been with us for the last few years, you’ve probably been expecting this post. Here I come, like the sun rising, going down, and once again hastening to its place to rise again. Like the wind blowing round and round, north, then south, and back again. Like streams running to the sea, and yet the sea is still not full. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.

If you’re new to the blog, you’ll be delighted to know we do a reading challenge here annually. And we try to get the best prizes we can think of to reward your toil at which you toil under the sun.

In our former days, most excellent Theophilus, we issued a 90-day Bible-reading challenge that had to begin on January 1 and end by March 31. But many folks have told us they would like to be able to get started over the holidays. While many are eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, or chasing a spirit of stupor, we hear that you—the readers of this blog, the champions of the covenant, the heroes who shine like stars in the midst of a present evil age—would prefer to redeem the time when you already find yourself away from your usual responsibilities.

And though there were some kinks to work out with this new format last year, we’re happy to grant what you wish—only up to half our kingdom, mind you—for the second year in a row. This year’s Bible reading challenge may commence immediately. In fact, perhaps it already commenced for you, and you’re just now realizing it.

Here are the rules:

  1. You must have a continental United States mailing address to win one of the stated prizes. Residents of other countries will receive a $35 (US) Amazon gift card via email.
  2. You must read (not scan or skim) all 66 books of the Protestant Bible. You may choose the translation and reading plan (canonical, chronological, etc.). You don’t have to stop and meditate on every detail, but we’re trusting you to be honest about reading and not skimming. Listening to an unabridged audio Bible is acceptable. You may also use any combination of audio and visual reading, as long as you’ve read or listened to the entire Bible within the allotted time period.
  3. You must read the entire Bible within a 90-day period.
  4. The last day of that 90-day period must be between today and March 31, 2020. If you’d like to understand why we recommend such fast-paced reading, see our Bible reading plan for readers.
  5. To enter the drawing, you must fill out the survey below, letting us know the dates you read and what you thought of the speed-reading process. Your thoughts do not have to be glowing, but they should be honest; you’ll still be entered into the drawing if you didn’t enjoy your speed-read.
  6. Any submissions to the form below that don’t meet the requirements or have the appearance of being fabricated will be deleted. For example: multiple entries with different data, date of completion not between November 15, 2019 and March 31, 2020, “What I thought about the experience” has nothing to do with Bible reading, or date of completion is later than the date of entry submission (please don’t try to enter the drawing if you plan to read the Bible; only enter once you have completed reading it).
  7. In the first week of April 2020, we will randomly select 2 winners from those who have submitted the form. We will email the winners to get their shipping addresses. If a winner does not respond to our request for a shipping address within 1 week, a new winner will be selected in their place.
  8. The first prize winner (if US) will get their choice of the ESV Reader’s Bible, Six-Volume Set: With Chapter and Verse Numbers or a one-volume reader’s Bible in the translation of their choice. (While these are not your only options, we have reviews the following: ESV, CSB, NIV.) The second prize winner (if US) will get whichever option the first prize winner didn’t choose. Any winner outside the continental US will receive a $35 Amazon gift card via email.
  9. Unfortunately, missionaries with DiscipleMakers are not eligible to win the drawing.

We will occasionally post links to the submission form on the blog between now and March 31. But you might also want to bookmark this page for easy access when you’re ready to submit your entry.

If you’d like a checklist to help you stay on pace, here are three. I won’t bother to update the dates, as I don’t know which day you plan to start. But the checkboxes can provide signals to make sure you’re on track to finish on time.

  1. Canonical Order
  2. Chronological Order
  3. NIV Sola Scriptura Order

Or here is an iOS app that can help you track your plan.

We are grateful for the generosity of Crossway in providing the grand prize for this year’s giveaway. You may now begin any time, and may this be the ride of your life.

The Bible is for Everyone

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Jacek Dylag (2018), public domain

There are more Bibles in print today than ever. We have dozens of English Bible translations and scores of Bible apps. The number of ways to listen, stream, and download the Bible would amaze our parents in the faith.

And yet, some think the Bible is exclusive and elite. That it is aimed at a narrow strip of humanity.

Brethren, this should not be. The Bible is for everyone.

It is not just for pastors and ministers, not just for the ordained. It is not just for missionaries or evangelists or worship leaders. It is not just for elders, deacons, or Bible study leaders. It is not just for those in vocational ministry.

The Bible is not just for independent adults. It is not just for the employed or the wealthy or the powerful. It is not just for those who speak loudly into the world and influence others. It is not just for the educated.

The Bible is not only for those who already know it. It is not a private club with a secret handshake. It is not only for church members, not only for the theologically astute, not only for people who can turn to Amos without consulting the table of contents.

The Bible is not for a select, respectable few, because Jesus did not come for a select, respectable few.

With the drama and force of a thousand neon arrows, the Bible points to Jesus. And since Jesus invites everyone to come to him, the Bible is for everyone.

The Bible is for those who don’t know Chronicles from Corinthians. It’s for those who have never been to church, who don’t what “theology” means.

The Bible is for babies, children, teens, and the elderly. It is for the jobless and the retired. It is for the poor and helpless, the weak and the overlooked. The Bible is for grade-school dropouts and those with mental challenges.

The Bible is for regular, normal Christians. And it is also for the curious, the doubting, and the disenchanted.

The Bible is for you. And the Bible is for your neighbor.

Regardless of your achievements, bank account, or any status in anyone’s eyes—good or bad—the Bible is for you. And God invites you to read, listen to, study, and memorize the Bible so that you might know him through his son Jesus.

So grab a Bible, grab a neighbor, and take up this remarkable, unique book that is written for all people. Let’s dig in.

3 Poor Reasons to Read the Bible

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Christin Hume (2017), public domain

On this side of our glorified bodies, Christians have two natures that wrestle within. Our “old man” persists until we see the Lord, and as a result, even our good behavior can be laced with sin.

We rejoice at the opportunity to help our neighbor, but we recognize the pride of self-congratulation on the walk back home. We try to give money generously, but we catch ourselves scheming how to work our latest donation into a dinner conversation. Our hearts have graduate degrees in dusting sour, selfish powder on the wholesome bread of obedience and love.

Bad Reasons for Bible Reading

Reading the Bible is no exception. We can exploit even this act of devotion for selfish gain.

I’ve seen this in my life. The reasons I have for sitting down with God’s word are often mixed. The more we can identify and repent of our bad impulses, the better.

Read the Bible to Have a Great Day

Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of encouragement to exercise in the morning. I’m told this active start to the day will make me feel amazing and will set me up for success in every other area of my life.

Some people advocate Bible reading in the same manner. Fifteen minutes in the Psalms will give you the spiritual equivalent of endorphins. If you start your day with God, what could possibly bring you down?

This approach to the Bible is stained with the prosperity gospel. Yes, obedience to God brings blessing, but “blessing” does not mean a smooth path and a fat wallet. We must not tie our ease and comfort to God’s favor or our obedience.

Those who push the Bible as a vaccination against trouble also speak a lot about how “inspiring” the Scriptures are. Call me a downer, but we need this sobering truth: The Bible is not always inspiring. It isn’t supposed to be.

In the Bible we find the self-revelation of the holy God of the universe, and this revelation is not always intended to make us feel good. God has designed something much better.

Read the Bible so Others Know You’re Holy

Social media has multiplied our opportunities to broadcast our spiritual practices. And the dopamine hits from likes and shares can transform a posture of humble worship to one of gold-nugget hunting.

But Instagram did not create this temptation. From my earliest days as a Christian I have wanted others to praise me for my piety. I would read God’s word with an eye toward sharing my devotional discoveries with my friends.

Most people want others to think well of them, and in the church, this can take the insidious form of spoiling genuine time with God by an obsession with one’s reputation. Time set apart to think about and worship God becomes more time to focus on me.

Read the Bible to Earn God’s Love

Christians need to hear the gospel of grace over and over and over. The news is so stunningly good, we have trouble believing and remembering it.

We doubt that God’s love is as deep and steady and present as he says. We know the devotion God desires, and we think his love for us must be proportional to our obedience. We pick up the Bible either in the fear that we have sinned too much or in the hope that God might, finally, be pleased with our latest offering of worship.

This thinking is pervasive, but it is nowhere in the Bible itself. For Christians, God is a good father whose love cannot be improved. Our accounts are at maximum capacity. Whether we read the Bible, or how well we read the Bible, does not change God’s affections toward us.

One Good Reason to Read

These poor reasons to read the Bible are focused on self. A great reason to read the Bible is to focus on God.

In the Bible, God shows us himself. He shows us his holiness and his law and his mercy. We see the background and setting for the life of Jesus, the central act of history. We hear the cosmos-rocking implications of his death, resurrection, and ascension.

We read the Bible because God commands we love him with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. But the transformed people of God long to worship their loving father and hear from him.