There’s more than one way to read the Bible, what matters is that you are reading it. I have read the Bible through in a single year but I don’t push that on people. If there are books in the Old Testament you have never read then you need to sooner or later; even though I would agree that the New Testament speaks more directly to Christians. “All scripture is good” but all scripture is not equally useful to our daily walk.

This morning I heard a man say that he reads one chapter each day. My immediate thought was “that would take forever,” which is obviously an exaggeration. I did the math. If you read one chapter each day it would take 3.2 years to read the entire Bible. J. Vernon McGee used to study the Bible on his daily radio program 15 minutes at a time Monday through Friday. His program got through the whole Bible once every five years. So if you are looking to start reading the Bible, three or five years either one may sound like an eternity. But it’s all about perspective. I have been a Christian since 1988. At a rate of once per five years I would have been through the Bible seven and a half times already. And that’s not just reading, that includes McGee’s commentary on each passage. I’ve been preaching since 1993. I’ve been married since 1997. I have been writing this blog since 2008. We would have finished the Bible three times by now, if we had started back then.

And what do you do when you finish? Whether it takes six months or five years, we never finish reading and studying the scripture. It will speak to us in new and applicable ways the next time through. Not only do our circumstances change over time but we as individuals grow and develop. We change. The Bible is dynamic and God uses it to speak to us and inform us. It’s not like finishing a class and getting a certificate. We never graduate the Christian life until we take our last breath and go home. In the meantime, keep reading the textbook.

So I’m thinking about it. I would hate to start something new and abandon the project later; but I’m thinking about reading one chapter of the Bible each day and writing up a commentary on those verses of text. Maybe it takes three years, maybe it takes five, or longer. I used to make it a habit to listen to J. Vernon McGee each day. While his lessons and applications are still valid, some of his social commentary and examples have grown dated. I’m not going to make any promises but I’m thinking about it. Let me know what you think. Would you consider going on a slow journey that we would hopefully finish someday?