This last weekend, I challenged folks at Eastbrook Church to read through the entire Bible in 2011 if they had not done so before or if they would like to get back into the Scriptures each day.
If you would like join me and others at Eastbrook in reading the Bible through this coming year, drop me an email (see below).
I am going to utilize the daily calendar from One Year Bible. You can utilize this as a print-out to stick in your Bible, visit the web-page daily to access the readings (www.oneyearbibleonline.com), or access the mobile version of the site through your smart-phone (http://mobile.oneyearbibleonline.com).
Each day will have 4 readings: Old Testament, New Testament, Psalm, and Proverb. When you read each day, I’d ask you to do three things:
- ask God to speak to you through the readings,
- ask God to speak to others who are reading the Scripture daily,
- quietly talk with God about what you read
Beginning January 1, I will be posting a devotional thought on one of the daily readings at least once per week here on my blog if you’d like to visit and comment.
I will also send out an email twice per month to everyone who has signed up to see how the reading is going, to encourage you to keep going, and to ask if you would share something that God is teaching you through the Bible. (For security reasons, I will keep your email blind copied so that others will not be able to access your email address.)
Again, if you would like join me and others at Eastbrook in reading the Bible through this coming year, drop me an email:
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Matthew Erickson 
I’d be interested in any suggestions to combat something I encountered when I attempted to do this a couple of years ago.
After buying a special One-Year-Bible where each daily reading was broken up into 1 part Old Testament, 1 part Psalms, 1 part Proverbs, and 1 part New Testament, I wound up bagging on the project—because it became just that—a project. If I fell behind a day–I’d feel pressure to catch back up. Miss a weekend, and you’ve got 3 ‘day’s to read. It became more about keeping up than soaking it in.
I felt I was ‘doing’ rather than ‘being’ in the Word. And, wrong or right, I wondered if that discomfort was the Holy Spirit nudging me to approach scripture in a way that would be less about work and more about connection.
How do we combat against just making this a I-Read-The-Whole-Bible merit badge?
I’ve a different approach to “catching up”, though I prefer a chronological read through. If I missed one day, I’d try to catch up the next. Any more than one day, though, and I’d focus on the reading for the day I returned to reading. I’d set aside time later to go back and read what I’d missed.
It’s worth noting, though, that in addition to using the daily read-through as my daily devotions, I generally also have an in-depth Bible study going as well, either for the study I’m in, or on my own. That helped with the “soak it in” needs.
Danny,
I think that the problem you highlight is one people often face when reading the Bible through in one year. I’ve experienced the same thing.
When reading through the Bible in a year, I operate within the tension between reading quickly and reading in-depth. I do my utmost to create space to go through all the readings for the day, while picking one of them to concentrate on with greater depth throughout the day. I choose to give myself a little grace if I fall behind and either set aside some extra time on the weekend to catch it all up or sometimes ‘speed read’ through some of them.
This may sound a little irreverent, but I see it as part of growing through the course of the year in understanding God better through the whole of Scripture. I will sometimes move through pieces of it fairly quickly in order to grasp the whole. At the same time, I do hope that every reading – especially the one I take a bit deeper – is a means for connecting with God.
Regarding the ‘merit badge’ of accomplishment piece, I think we can only combat that through humility. We need to remember that reading through the Bible doesn’t necessarily make us a spiritual giant, even though it becomes the raw material for growth by God’s Spirit working in us. Perspective is helpful on this. I have a friend whose house church in another country has been reading the Bible together for four hours a day over the last few years. Another great Christian leader I know has read through the Bible every year for the past 50 years. My one-year accomplishment is so small compared to the discipline of these other saints. And, in the end, the accomplishment is not the goal but transformation and growth.
Christianity isn’t about checking off certain things as ‘done’, rather it is about growing in relationship with God.
Hello Matt!
Count me in! It’s encouraging to know that lots of us in the church will be going thru this together. My wife and I got a jump-start on our readings tonite (hope that’s not considered cheating!). We did some math: it takes less than 13 minutes a day to read thru the whole Bible in a year. I figure if I can spend 3 hours watching the Packers I can surely find 13 minutes to spend in God’s word.
Thanks for the encouragement!
Mark
Great, Mark. I’m thrilled you will be joining us on this journey!
Matt
Hello,
I am thinking on doing the same thing, even though its a year later, but thanks for the help Matt. It may have been a year later but I sure feel motivated in doing this study, and it helps the fact that you are letting us know how we should and what books etc, meaning, NT.OT Proverbs and Psalms..I think that is very neat, and will try it out, deeper intimacy with God is so needed and through studying his word daily that will def do it..Thanks for the inspiration and upliftment I know I needed it bad. Thanks again matt and God bless!
Ericka