As a pastor of a Baptist church, you might be thinking that I should not be writing this blog for the world to see. My job could be at risk.
However, I would like to explain. My wife Linda reads through the Bible every year. Every Year! She has a reading plan that she enjoys and puts it to use every year.
Only once in my life, was I successful in reading through the Bible in one calendar year. From Genesis through Revelation. I just don't like reading through the Bible. I cannot get comfortable with simply "reading" the text.
However, and this is a big however, I love studying the Bible. I love to dig into the passages and find the gems right below the surface. I enjoy "working" through a passage so that I can "rightly divide the Word of God."
I have a habit of studying the Bible about three to four hours each day. For a thirty-minute sermon, it takes me about four solid hours of study, writing, editing, putting together a PowerPoint, and refreshing my memory thirty minutes before I preach a sermon. I live for studying the Bible. That is why I use the term “Bible Studies for the Enthusiast” on my website, www.73twenty.com.
There you have it. I do not like "reading" the Bible. But I thoroughly enjoy studying the Word of God. The apostle Paul's words to his protege Timothy keep me grounded and on target.
2 Timothy 2:14 (KJV) Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. 15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
How about you? Do you enjoy reading the Bible? Do you enjoy studying the Bible? Let me know.
For those of you that have reading plans that you have really enjoyed, put them in the comments.
I too have found just reading from front to back every year just leaves me unfulfilled. I have started a ministry course recently and have discovered that its much more rewarding and enjoyable to study the Bible than just reading it.
I've found it hard to read through because I start asking the questions "what's the point of this?" or "why was this significant enough to be put in here?" Especially when it comes to the lists of names or specifications of things in the Old Testament. Once I start asking those questions, then I have to find the answer before I move on, I know if it is in the Bible, God had a reason to put it there. I started reading the bible from Gen 18 months ago, and haven't made it through the Chronicles yet.
I find it hard to read through it as well. I find a passage or chapter and try to figure what it is truly saying. I have found that many times verses are pulled from the chapters and the true meaning of the context is lost when this is done.