1 Fun Way to Read Your Bible
Many Christians, either due to legalism or lack of creativity, get stuck in one way of reading the Bible. That’s boring. The 1,189 chapters of our Bibles are a feast, a feast we can approach and enjoy in diverse ways throughout different seasons of life.
I want to share with you how my family and I are presently reading our Bibles. We’re really enjoying it, it’s really simple, and I’ve encouraged many of my friends and church members to try this approach to the biblical feast.
What We (me, my wife, and our 3 sons) Do:
1) We Vote on Which Book of the Bible to Read. Presently we’re reading Mark. Before that we read Proverbs. Before that we read Colossians. Before that we read 1st & 2nd Samuel. Once we finish a book, we vote and argue around the dinner table about which book to read next.
2) Monday-Friday We (Individually) Read 1 Chapter a Day of the Book, in the Morning. This morning everyone in my family read Mark chapter 8. Tomorrow we’ll read chapter 9. Each person reads on their own while eating breakfast or before starting their school day or work day. This can be done in as little as 5 minutes, or you can stretch it out into a more lengthy time of study, meditation, and prayer. Each morning I write down the verse/phrase that most jumps out to me, then I use that as a prompt to shape some morning prayer and as a verse/phrase to ponder throughout the day. Last week I loved pondering “so that they might be with him” (Mark 3:14), thinking about Jesus’ discipleship strategy of shaping people primarily through being together. Our sons probably average 4-5 minutes of this Bible reading each morning. I probably average 20-ish minutes of this morning Bible reading and prayer.
3) Monday-Friday We Talk About What We Read Around the Dinner Table. At some point during dinner we start talking about what we read that morning: what stuck out to us, what was funny, what was confusing, what was interesting, what was convicting, what was inspiring, what connected to current events, what got us thinking, what we obeyed, etc. Sometimes these talks are really short. Sometimes these talks are stretch long, interesting, and full of laughter. Sometimes we forget to talk about what we read that morning, and have a dinner where we catch up on 3 or 4 days/chapters worth of reading. And sometimes we never worry about catching up our discussion.
That’s it. That’s what we currently do. We really like it. It’s simple and interesting and formative and fun and communal and sustainable for our busy family. Consider trying this yourself, or as a whole family, or with your roommates and friends.
PS. If you want help understanding how the whole Bible fits together, here’s a book I wrote on the topic: The Big Story.