Building the Habit

Christians are taught to revere the word of God. After all it's "living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Heb 4:12). It's "God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2Tim 3:16-17). The scriptures are "more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb" (Psalm 19:10).

We love the Bible. But we still struggle to read it.

Over 60% of Americans identify as Christian. A recent study says reading the scriptures at least 4 times a week can transform your life; polls say less than 15% of Americans do that. I know many believers who struggle with forming the habit of getting into the Bible daily. Often there's a certain amount of guilt: they feel we ought to be doing this, and they want to read the entire Bible, but they just ... can't.

I would like to offer a plan to help. This reading plan will not take you through the entire Bible. Not even close. The goal is to create the habit of reading the scriptures. Then you'll be able to read the entire Bible. Again and again.

This plan takes you through the most interesting parts of the Old Testament narrative (Genesis through Nehemiah, but skipping some books) and then the New Testament in a year. It's designed for reading six days a week, so you have a catch-up day every week. The average reading time is less than 7 minutes per day.

There are no dates, so you can start any time, whether on New Years Day, the Sunday after that, or some random day in June. It simply runs for 52 weeks.

Now I'd like to offer some thoughts on how to make this a part of your life.

The world, the flesh, and the devil do not want you to be in the scriptures. They want you to be conformed to the pattern of this world (Rom 12:2). If you want to succeed at this, you need to be thoughtful about how you're going to overcome them. Here are some tips based on the book Atomic Habits by James Clear:

1. Pick a time and location in which you think you'll best be able to do your reading. If you're an early riser, it might be first thing in the morning, maybe as you linger over your coffee. If you're not an early riser, don't pick that; maybe after dinner or before bed is a better choice for you.

2. Put your Bible in the location where you're going to do your reading. If you're going to read while you drink your morning coffee, put it by the pot. If you're going to read after dinner in your favorite chair, put it next to the chair. This creates a reminder and removes the barrier of needing to find your Bible.

3. Mark off the day's reading on your list after you do it. The more you mark off, the more you'll want to keep up your trend.

4. Give yourself a little reward when you finish a week; nothing crazy, just a little something you enjoy. Maybe give yourself a bigger treat after each month you complete.

5. If you miss a day or two, don't drop the whole thing; just catch up when you can.

6. Try not to miss two days in a row. Even if you can't complete the entire reading, read something.

7. Find someone to join you in this. Check on each other. Encourage each other.

If you make it as easy on yourself as you can to do this and use a little psychology to your advantage, you have a good chance of sticking with this. If you can get in the habit of reading a little in your Bible every day (or so) for a year, you're likely to be able to stick with it for the rest of your life. Give it a try! You have nothing to lose.

Click here for the reading plan.


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