All Scripture is God breathed, and is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped in every good work.  – 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)

If God reveals Himself through His Word, shouldn’t we consistently be in His Word?  I ask Christians quite often if they’ve ever read through the entire Bible, and the overwhelming majority of the time the answer is “no.”  I admit that it was 5 years after I became a Christian that I took the challenge seriously and read through the Bible for myself.

The most common goal is to give ones self an entire year to read Genesis through Revelation.  There are 1,189 chapters in the Bible, so 1,189 divided by 365 is 3.25.  Therefore, three chapters a day will get you pretty close.  Even one chapter a day will get you through it in 3 years and 3 months.  If you wanted to complete the whole thing by the end of this year, 6 chapters a day will get you pretty close.  The main thing is that you choose a goal and remain consistent.

I’m journeying through the Bible right now with two of my former Algebra 1 students.  We started 5 weeks ago.  This means that I should be right around Exodus chapter 20.  I just finished Exodus chapter 2 (I will catch up!). The two guys I’m reading with are kind of smoking me, which is a good thing.  It isn’t a competition.  All we do is send a text to each other when we finish reading a portion of Scripture. It is really cool to know exactly when these guys have just finished reading.  It reminds me to pray for them right then and there and pray that God really opens their eyes and draws them to Him.

Pretty much the only requirement that I suggest when going through the Bible, especially for the first time, is to remove your religious glasses. We tend to bring our own brand of Christianity to the table when reading God’s word.  We like to make what we read fit what we already believe about God. Don’t do that.  I say just pretend someone told you about Jesus for the first time, you gave your life to Him and said, “I want you to work in my life, Lord. What would you have me to do?”  He plops down this big book with 1,189 chapters and says, “Read this.”

Choose a friend or a group of friends and read through the Bible.  Find a way to hold each other accountable like we do with the text messages, and go for it.

Later

Adam