Daily Bible Reading

‘Give attendance to reading’, 1 Tim. 4. 13.

The Christian life is a different life. New believers in the Lord Jesus will find that their daily routine will need to change to accommodate fresh priorities as they seek to follow Christ. Others may have been saved for a longer period but recognize that there are still things in life to change. This series of articles will look at ‘Christian Basics’ and offer advice on how to get started. Our first topic is daily Bible reading.

Daily reading of the Bible is essential for Christians - the word of God is our spiritual food! David, in Psalm 19, understood how the word of God benefits the people of God. He said that the ‘law of the Lord is perfect’, v. 7, and that it provides refreshment to the soul; the Christian needs refreshment every day to provide strength in an ungodly world. He declared that the ‘statutes of the Lord are right’, v. 8, and this brings joy to the heart; the Christian needs the joy that is based on the righteous ways of God revealed in His word. David understood that the ‘commandment of the Lord is pure’, v. 8, bringing clarity of vision; the Christian needs clear direction in relation to the Lord’s will and His ways to please the Lord.

Whilst the word of God is essential to Christian living, there are so many pressures on time that make daily reading difficult. Some of those pressures are genuine priorities, such as school, college or university work, family commitments, or helping others. Other calls on time may be less necessary, but an enjoyable part of life.

If daily reading is not part of your schedule, decide to make the change; the following hints may help:

• Commit prayerfully to God to be serious about daily Bible reading and ask for His help in making the necessary changes to your routine.
• Allocate a time that works for you, ideally when you are least likely to be distracted.
• Start small. I have often recommended the daily readings in the next column to those beginning to read, to cover a two-week period. After this, you could read a chapter each day of one of the Gospels, then move to Acts, followed by the Epistles.
• Build up to a goal to read the whole Bible systematically There are multiple plans and apps available to read the Bible in a year, but decide on a pace that is manageable.¹ Covering the Bible in eighteen months or two years is still of great benefit.
• Accompany reading with prayer; ask the Lord to help and bless His word before reading; after reading, ‘pray through’ what you have read - is there something that you have read that helps you to appreciate God and His greatness, or something that challenges you?
• Don’t be discouraged if you miss a day or find some passages difficult. Keep going!
• Make a note of verses that stand out to you, or those you want to come back to in order to understand better.
• Discuss what you are reading with other Christians, and ask for help on difficult passages.

Discovering the Lord Jesus - Fourteen chapters which you can get through in two weeks if you read a chapter every day: