What I’m (Still) Reading: A Warning About Reading The Word

Well, here it is December 9 and I am still on track with my Read-Through-The-Bible-In-A-Year plan! Today I finished up 1 Thessalonians and jumped right into the pages of 2 Thessalonians. With mere weeks left in the year, I can see the end in sight, and I’m feeling the excitement of soon having completed the whole Bible. There have been passages so familiar that I felt as if I was reading them from memory. There were also passages that seemed nearly brand new to me in their revelation and impact.

Overall, I am thrilled to be able to look back on the accomplishment of having read the entirety of God’s Word in a calendar year. And yet, I come bearing a warning and a confession, as well:

When you purpose to read through the Bible in a certain timeline, there is a huge risk of letting the words you’re reading become nothing more than a task to be completed each day. There were many mornings where I had to remind myself to stay present in the Scripture. What do I mean? I mean that it’s easy to want to rush through the day’s assigned reading in order to tick off that check box and have that “task” under your belt for the day. In that process, the words can just begin to blend together in a whirl of nouns, verbs, and adjectives, that lose all meaning in their rushed-through jumble.

What I’m trying to say is that you can read the Bible and not really get the Bible. The goal of reading through the Bible in a year is an admirable one, and I’m glad to have done this, but, at the same time, I think I will wait a while before diving in again. Why? Because next year, I want to just take my time each day, meander over passages and allow them to sink in to the fullest.

So read your Bible, by all means! But make sure you’re reading for revelation and not just for accomplishment.