It is not a sin to fail to read your Bible every day.
The scriptures are gift from God, and I encourage you to feed your soul on them every day. But there's a little detail we don't tend to think about.
When the Lord said, "These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up" (Deut 6:6-7), when the Psalmist wrote, "Blessed is he ... whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night" (Psalm 1:1-2), and when Jesus quoted, "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matt 4:4) almost no one had their own copy of the scriptures.
Before the printing press arrived on the scene in 1440, it was simply impossible for most people to have a copy of the Bible. It was far too expensive. Jesus probably did not have his own copy of the Hebrew scriptures. According to NT scholar Craig Keener, a copy of Romans would have cost more than $2000 in today's terms due to material and labor costs. Isaiah is more than 4 times longer than Romans, so that would be $8000+. Just for Isaiah. In an era when most people struggled just to survive, one had to be wealthy or have a wealthy benefactor to have his own copy.
So how did people learn the scriptures? How were they to meditate on God's word? They listened. It was read at synagogue and church meetings, and people reflected on what they'd heard.
This is no doubt why more traditional church services still include several Bible readings. It's been done that way for generations to give the gathered faithful the chance to hear short, hopefully memorable passages of scripture. I would love to see more low church Protestants return to this tradition.
You can do the same thing. If your church does do those Bible readings, really pay attention. Try to fix one in your mind. Or just take note of it and look it up later. If your church doesn't do this, just pick a place in the scripture. A short passage, maybe a paragraph or two. Leave it on your Bible app on your phone or put a bookmark in your Bible.
Either way, the point is to return to that passage throughout the week. Read it real quick, then as you go about your day, spend some time thinking about the passage. What does it mean? What should you do about it?
As an example, let's say you choose 1Cor 13:4-7, part of the famous love chapter:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Then reflect on it: Love is patient. Love is kind. God is love. What does that tell me about God? I'm supposed to be loving. Am I patient? Am I kind? Do I envy or boast? Am I easily angered? Do I keep record of wrongs? What do I need to do to be more loving?
Do this all week. Work that passage over in your mind. Let that passage work you over. See if it changes how you act — or how you react.
What if you spent a week or two thinking about the Beatitudes or one of Christ's parables? What if you read and reflected on a "page" on your phone screen of Proverbs (probably 5 verses) every day?
Life gets busy. You may struggle to sit down and read two chapters today. But you can reflect on scripture as you wash dishes or drive to work or lie in bed.
The simple act of moving your eyes across a page of the Bible doesn't do anything to you. Getting the words in you and letting them change you is what matters, however you accomplish that. If you didn't read the Bible today, don't feel guilty. But find a way to get some scripture in you.
Image: A Gutenberg Bible on display at the US Library of Congress
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