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The Golden Rule of Bible Reading

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This short video from John Piper explains what he calls “The Golden Rule of Bible Reading”: Figure out what the original, divinely inspired author intended to communicate. Piper readily concedes that this rule is an attempt to define what “meaning” is, as in, “How do we decide the meaning of a passage of Scripture?” So he gives four reasons for this definition of “meaning.”

  1. The Bible assumes this definition of “meaning.”
  2. We should treat the biblical authors the way we wish they would treat us (Matt 7:12).
  3. Humility requires it of us.
  4. God’s authority over us requires it of us.

https://vimeo.com/223505453

Piper’s challenge is one we would do well to heed. The video is well worth your time.

Check it out!

Tips for Reading the Bible with your Kids

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I recently wrote of an “aha” moment, when I realized I could read the Bible to my kids. At Crossway’s blog, David Murray has a few short articles that can help you, too, to get started with what he calls this “holy habit.”

In “How to Help Your Kids Get Excited About Reading the Bible,” Murray explains the one crucial technique—in fact, the only technique—you must master: being enthusiastic about Bible reading yourself. Do this, and your kids can’t help but get infected.

In “6 Tips for Reading the Bible With Your Kids,” Murray gets specific with these practical tips:

  1. Give them a good reason to read the Bible: make sure they know why you’re doing this!
  2. Establish a routine: do it in the same time and place each week.
  3. Be realistic: understand what your children can handle.
  4. Be systematic: read through whole books, not just a verse here and a verse there.
  5. Ask good questions: help them to process what you read.
  6. Ask God for help: pray together!

These encouraging articles give much help and encouragement to families. But don’t read the Bible with your kids just because you should. Do it because you can. Because you get to. Because you can’t wait to do it. Let them see your excitement, so they can come to see the value in it with you.

Check it out!

God’s Subtle Work in Your Bible Reading

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Erik Raymond reflects briefly yet gloriously on “God’s Subtle Work in Your Bible Reading.” With a personal anecdote, he models how important Bible reading is, even when it doesn’t rock your world every day. The persistent work of God over time is worth the effort we put in.

Here is a taste:

Here’s the thing: God uses your regular exposure to the Word of God to mold you into the image of his Son. Your faithful reading of and meditation upon the Bible makes grooves. And the wheels of your life ride along in these tracks. You might think, What’s the big deal if I don’t read my Bible and pray today? The big deal is this, you are missing out. You are missing out on being exposed to the gloriously infinite treasure of the Scripture. And you are missing out on the privilege of God pressing down the mortar of his Word into your life with all of the force of your current circumstances and emotions. You are missing out on the supernatural compound effect of Bible reading in sanctification.

Check it out!

5 Benefits to Reading Entire Books of the Bible in One Sitting

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Crossway recently posted 5 benefits to reading entire books of the Bible in one sitting:

  1. You’ll gain unique perspective.
  2. You’ll let Scripture speak for itself.
  3. You’ll read like a writer.
  4. You’ll read more.
  5. You’ll broaden your understanding.

Under that first point, they explain, “By taking in a larger swath of Scripture uninterrupted, you can more easily see themes or patterns in the writing, the narrative’s flow, and the context of each verse. Reading this way can be likened to getting an aerial perspective on a city as compared to your viewpoint from a single address on the map.”

Have you experienced such benefits? Have you ever tried reading the Bible at length? Crossway offers some welcome motivation.

Check it out!

The Summer of the Bible

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Paolo Rosa (2015), public domain

Today marks the unofficial start of summer in the U.S. The next three months promise sunshine and thunderstorms, lightning bugs and mosquitoes, picnics and sunburn. Summer is here, whether you’ve gathered your frisbees and watermelon or not.

Summer has a rhythm of its own. The children are out of school, we’re anxious to travel, and the longer hours of daylight call us outside for yard work and play.

Though it seems we should have more time in the summer for spiritual pursuits, for many the opposite is true. We float into the fall like a dry leaf, wondering why we feel so distant from the Lord.

Let’s make this summer different. Let’s fill this summer with the Bible.

Seven Reasons to Read the Bible

As I urge you to pick up your Bible this summer, I realize some will consider this a stuffy burden. But if you think the Bible is boring, you’ve got the wrong book.

The Bible is the word of God! It is our light in the dark, it is our way back to our Father, it is the food we need for life. There are millions of reasons to read and study the Bible. Consider these seven.

  1. We read the Bible to know Christ.
  2. We study the Bible because knowing Jesus is eternal life.
  3. The Bible gives us wisdom (Proverbs 1:1–7).
  4. The Bible makes us fruitful (Psalm 1:1–3).
  5. The Bible warns us about sin and folly (Psalm 19:11).
  6. The Bible gives us hope (Romans 15:4).
  7. The Bible gives us the truth, and there is freedom in knowing the truth (John 8:31–32).

Five Suggestions for a Bible-filled Summer

There’s no need to wait until January 1 to make a life change. If you’ve been neglecting God’s word or if you’d just like to make the most of the summer, here are five ways to get started.

Read and study the Bible yourself. You’ll never regret focusing on the Bible. If you’ve never studied the Bible before, don’t be intimidated! We’ve got you covered. If you need the refreshment of simply reading the Bible, three months is plenty of time to read the whole thing. Really!

Join a Bible study group. A small group study can be just the thing to get you out of the house and into God’s word. Ask around at church to see what’s available this summer, and if you don’t find anything that works, start your own group!

Read the Bible with a friend or spouse. Groups can be great, but the simple practice of reading the Bible with one other person is powerful too. This really is as easy as it sounds: find a friend, find a time, and dive into the Bible together.

Read the Bible with your family. Pick a book in the Bible and start reading out loud. Once you finish, start again with a different book. Keep going. A family reading time will be fruitful for everyone (especially if the children ask questions).

Point your children to the Bible. School-age children invariably have more free time in the summer, and they can’t spend the whole time blowing bubbles. Whether your children can read or not, the summer is a great time to help them develop a daily devotional habit. Follow up and show them how the whole Bible fits together.

Three months of summer stretch out before us; let’s use them to immerse ourselves in the Bible!

The Obvious Diagnosis (A Parable)

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Shanice Garcia (2015), public domain

The light went on for Tyler one day in his mid-twenties. He stepped on the scale and was shocked.

Tyler had always been active, playing sports as a kid and intramurals in college. But now he had a desk job. He tried to run or work out a few times a week, but he often didn’t have the energy.

He never considered himself a glutton, but he ate whatever he wanted in college. He thought nothing of cereal for dinner or a second burger at lunch. Days could pass before he ate a green vegetable.

But the slower pace of life and the gradual accumulation of the years had the effect so many have felt. Tyler was 15 pounds heavier than when he graduated college, and he finally had enough.

Tyler plunged into the world of health and nutrition. He read dozens of books from his library. He investigated the latest fad diets and held them up to the closest scrutiny. Early on, he saw the change he had to make: he needed to eat better.

More vegetables. Fewer sweets. Better choices at the grocery store.

Tyler noticed a difference right away. He slept better. He had tremendous energy. He felt sharper and more focused at work. His weight was down, but that was almost irrelevant—every aspect of his physical and mental well-being was soaring to heights he’d never known.

He soon met others in his city who shared his new passion. As a result of this new friend network, Tyler’s social life exploded. There was the softball team, the weekend triathlon training, and the shared cooking nights. Tyler and one of the women in his group started dating. His calendar was bursting.

Looking back, Tyler would see this social uptick as the turning point.

Eating healthy food takes time. Imperceptibly, Tyler’s food preparation time got squeezed. It started with walking to pick up a sandwich at lunch instead of packing his own. As he stayed out later at night he found less time for breakfast in his apartment, so he’d hit the bagel shop. Pretty soon he was eating carry-out food as often as he was making dinner from scratch.

The transformation continued for several months until Tyler caught a cold. When he couldn’t shake it after two weeks, he went to his doctor.

This doctor had been impressed with Tyler’s health in recent years, so he was surprised to see the vital signs when he walked into the room. Tyler’s weight, pulse rate, and blood pressure were all up, much higher than at his most recent annual physical.

The doctor asked questions about Tyler’s sickness and current lifestyle. He gently probed at Tyler’s exercise and diet, and Tyler confessed to feeling lethargic even before catching this cold.

The doctor finished writing in the chart and leaned back in his chair with a smile. “Tyler, I’ve seen dozens of people with this cold in recent weeks. I’m not worried about it for you. You’ll bounce back within the next two or three days.”

“That’s great,” Tyler said.

“But a healthy young man shouldn’t get knocked so low by a simple cold,” the doctor said. “There’s something else going on.”

Tyler looked worried. “What is it?”

The doctor couldn’t suppress a small laugh. “After the health journey I’ve seen you take over the last several years, I didn’t think I’d say this. But Tyler, you’re not eating well.”

“What?”

“Well, you have healthy friends. You read a lot about nutrition and even hang out in healthy places. Your influences haven’t changed.”

“OK…”

“But you haven’t noticed the slide. You might not talk or think any differently, but your diet right now is miles away from what it was a year ago. In order to be healthy, you actually have to put the healthy food in your body.”

And that’s when the light went on for Tyler a second time.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

More Reflections on Rapid Bible Reading

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Adam Rodriguez undertook my challenge to read the whole Bible quickly at the start of 2017, and he lived to tell about it on his blog. He wasn’t sure about setting aside all the other books he wanted, but found it to be worth the effort. On his blog, he reflects on the experience, with the following reactions:

  1. I Gained a Deeper Appreciation of the Bible as a Work of Literary Art.
  2. I See More How Scripture Alludes To Itself.
  3. I See How the Bible’s Theology Develops Over Time.
  4. My Love for the Bible was Restored.

I especially appreciated Rodriguez’s third point, which arose from using a historical reading plan—reading the Old Testament books according to the Hebrew order, and the New Testament books in the order they were written. Reading in this way, in a short time, highlight the unfolding revelation of God through human history.

I’m grateful to Adam and the many others who took up the challenge and shared their thoughts on it. May the Lord bless our efforts to better understand him through his word!

Check it out!

Reflections on Rapid Bible Reading

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I love challenging people to read the Bible like they’d read any other book. And when folks have been trained their whole Christian lives to read just a few verses at a time, such rapid reading can be thrilling. Here’s what some of you have said about your Bible reading in the last few months:

I was pleasantly surprised to find how much more enjoyable I found reading larger chunks of Scripture as opposed to the choppiness of reading smaller sections. It was also nice not to get bogged down in the typical sections but to sprint through them as part of their larger story.

Though I have been a believer for years, I have never successfully finished a cover to cover reading plan. I learned in this challenge that a short term goal is easier for me to attain. I found that consuming large portions of Scripture increased my understanding and led to wonderful discussions with my husband. This Bible reading challenge was life changing.

Previous to this I struggled with actually wanting to read the Bible, since to me it was kind of boring in places. When I heard about your challenge, I was originally just doing it for the prize. However reading through the Bible in such a short period of time was very enjoyable for me. Never staying in the same book for more than a couple days kept me interested through the whole Bible.

I felt spiritually so much more alive diving into Scripture evert single day for three months, and getting a broad overview of Scripture. I would not trade this time in God’s word, as He really used it to strengthen my faith and give me a fuller picture of who He is.

I have read through the Bible using a one-year plan many times, but reading it in 90 days was life-changing. God knew I needed this challenge, as He has used this concentrated time His Word to humble me and increase my awe of Him. Glory to God!

When you read 16 chapters in a row (many times whole books all at once) you can truly grasp and remember the context of the situation a whole lot more.

After spending weeks in the prophets with their largely unheeded calls to repentance, getting to Matthew was like a breath of fresh air! This helped me appreciate various parts of scripture for explaining different things clearer and more vividly.

I had been very far from God for the past several years and hadn’t read the Bible in a while, and now that I have repented and am following Jesus again, I thought it would be good to read the whole thing through. 30 days wasn’t really that hard for me because I read really fast. What was hard for me was not stopping to analyze everything or ask a million questions. As I read I kept a list of my overall impression of what each book revealed about God’s heart and character. Overall it was an amazing experience and I’m super glad I did it.

It was difficult at times, yet it was such a blessing to develop the discipline of consistently reading long portions of the word. I developed a feel for the flow of the Bible.

I have to say that it was a life changing experience. I never considered such a thing as helpful. I had read the Bible many times in the past, but never in such big portions and never in such a short time. It amazed me the impact and insight this practice had on my life. The discipline was invaluable. This practice of reading through the Bible will be part of my daily life from now on.

I feel more like I have “the whole bible” in my mind now than I ever have before. It was also great to get to see all the interconnections, like for example I read Joel and the first chapters of acts on the same day. It has made me think that I want to get the benefits of breadth even while doing deep study.

Reading the Bible at this pace was so much fun. I hadn’t read the Bible in chunks like this since freshman year in college, when I wasn’t a Christian, but figured I should read the whole Scriptures to get a better idea what it was all about. Returning to this approach after 5 years of following Christ was thus pretty neat. Like the first time, I was struck by the unity of the Scriptures from front to back. Jesus Christ truly is the same yesterday, today and forever.

I’ve always loved reading any book like this, and the Bible is unique in the diversity and unity within it. Getting lost in history, or a running argument between Job and his friends, or multiple Psalms all has value it’s hard to get in the morning bursts of drilling into a particular passage. And meditating on the trajectory of God’s work in history is really cool. This is going to be an annual tradition for sure, external incentives or not.

This has actually inspired me to try to read whole books of the Bible in as close to one sitting as possible.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that reading the whole Bible in exactly 90 days or less is not for everyone:

Reading the NT is not so bad, but reading the OT tends to hit a wall somewhere around Psalms/Proverbs/prophets, where there’s less of a narrative to follow.

I do believe that listening to the Bible on a regular basis will be doable, I just can’t stand sit and read through it quickly.

Honestly, it bothered me to read through/listen to the Bible so quickly. I am the type of person that likes to focus on one book for an extended period, about a month for Ephesians, for example.

I started with Genesis, and thoroughly enjoyed the process. But next I went for Job, and really struggled to not let my mind wander. I thought that listening to Matthew next would be ‘easier’. But I still struggled to pay proper attention. So I decided to stop last week, as there didn’t seem much point doing it just to say that I’ve done it. I was listening while walking, so the distractions should have been limited. But I was doing so at the end of a working day. So perhaps I was too tired.

But despite the fact that not everyone was in a position to complete the reading, I’m encouraged by how many came to see the value of reading larger portions of Scripture. Whether it’s a 90-day full read-through of the Bible, or simply an occasional one-sitting read-through of a single book, may the Lord help us to encourage others to read the Bible like a masterpiece of literature. May the Lord use this process to deepen our understanding of him, as we receive his revelation, in context, with deeper understanding and greater benefit for the world.