7 reasons why you should read the ENTIRE Bible this year
Stats show that only 45% of christians say they read the Bible once/week.
12% only read it once/month
9% only read it several times/year
33% only seldom or never read their bible
Article from Pew Research.
If we desire to grow in our relationship with God then that means we have to spend time with God. One of the ways that we primarily do that is by spending time in His Word. The Bible can be overwhelming. It’s a lot of content! But here’s why I think we should commit to reading the entire Bible this year:
To hear from God.
Think back to Genesis 1. How did God bring everything into existence? By speaking.
The Creator of the world, who spoke everything into existence, wants to speak to you every single day. One of the ways that we primarily hear from God is through the reading of His Word.
We miss out on hearing from God when we choose not to spend time in His Word.
To better reflect Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5.20 - “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: ‘Be reconciled to God.’”
As believers of Jesus, we’re called to reflect Jesus to the world around us. People may not ever step foot into your church but they’ll interact with you consistently. In order to properly reflect Jesus, we need to pursue Jesus.
To see Scripture as one story.
From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is one story.
the Bible is:
66 books ➡️ split up into two testaments ➡️ written by 40-50 different authors ➡️ over a span of 1,600 years
but it all points to Jesus.
when we read the entire Bible we’ll come to see the entire story of God.
To grow in your understanding of God.
In Ephesians 4 Paul says this prayer that still applies to us today
“I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Chris't’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Spending time in Scripture grows our understanding of who God is. When we understand God better we’ll then be able to better share God with others.
To grow your confidence in what the Bible says.
Has anyone ever asked you this question: “What does the Bible have to say about ___________?”
Often that question stumps us because we may not know what the Bible says about a specific subject. Of course in that moment google can be our best friend but as we engage in God’s Word consistently we’ll be more confident in knowing what the Bible says about a specific subject.
To create a healthy habit of reading the Bible consistently.
James Clear, author of Atomic Habits (great resource) claims that it takes 66 days to form a habit.
Reading the entire Bible can be overwhelming but when we break it up throughout the entire year, it becomes achievable. If committing to 365 days of consistent Bible reading sounds overwhelming to you, commit to reading it for 66 days and then just see what happens.
I’m believing that if we commit to that, we’ll come to desire more of God simply because we’re spending time with Him.
To simply spend time with God
You might be thinking, “All this sounds great, but I don’t have enough time to do this. I work a full time job. I have multiple kids. Etc…”
Here is a chart that shows the average reading time for every book of the Bible:
Genesis – 3.5h
Exodus – 3h
Leviticus – 2h
Numbers – 3h
Deuteronomy – 2.5h
Joshua – 1.75h
Judges – 1.75h
Ruth – 15m
1 Samuel – 2.25h
2 Samuel – 1.75h
1 Kings – 2h
2 Kings – 2.25h
1 Chronicles – 2h
2 Chronicles – 2.5h
Ezra – 40m
Nehemiah – 1h
Esther – 30m
Job – 1.75 h
Psalms – 5h
Proverbs – 1.75h
Ecclesiastes – 30m
Song of Solomon – 20m
Isaiah – 3.75h
Jeremiah – 4h
Lamentations – 20m
Ezekiel – 3.75h
Daniel – 1.25h
Hosea – 30m
Joel – 12m
Amos – 25m
Obadiah – 4m
Jonah – 8m
Micah – 20m
Nahum – 8m
Habakkuk – 9m
Zephaniah – 10m
Haggai – 7m
Zechariah – 40m
Malachi – 11m
Matthew – 2.5h
Mark – 1.5h
Luke – 2.5h
John – 2h
Acts – 2.25h
Romans – 1h
1 Corinthians – 1h
2 Corinthians – 40m
Galatians – 20m
Ephesians – 20m
Philippians – 14m
Colossians – 13m
1 Thessalonians – 12m
2 Thessalonians – 7m
1 Timothy – 16m
2 Timothy – 11m
Titus – 7m
Philemon – 3m
Hebrews – 45m
James – 16m
1 Peter – 16m
2 Peter – 10m
1 John – 16m
2 John – 2m
3 John – 2m
Jude – 4m
Revelation – 1.25h
We are definitely busy people but we can always carve out time for God’s Word. I can lay out the stats of the average amount of time that people spend on their devices or watching Netflix but we’ll leave that for another blog.
I would argue that 37 books of the Bible can be read in one sitting. (Every book listed that takes under 1 hour to read)
Bible Reading Tips:
Pray before reading
Pick a bible reading plan
Pick a time and stick to it
Pick a regular reading spot
Read personally
Read in community
Bible Plan Options:
Check out the Bible App
I’ve used this plan personally over the past several years: The Entire Bible In A Year
Visit our website: https://www.bt.church/bibleplan
