reading-plan

ONE YEAR READING PLAN

This is a good thing to start during Lent. Some thoughts on using this schedule:

1. Suspend disbelief. Just read and let it sink in.

2. Don't worry if some days you are not focused. Important themes recur time and again.

3. A little bit each day or so is much better than a big push. Have fun with this. Don't make it drudgery.

4. If you are really limited on time, just do the New Testament list. This is about a 5-7 minute exercise. Doing both is probably in the 20-30 minute range. You will be amazed at the difference this makes in your day if you do at least some of this in the morning. Some readers find it actually makes more time for me by improved focus the rest of the day. It takes about 18 hours to read the New Testament out loud. This is how long at least one audio book lists their New Testament tape set. At 5 minutes per day it would take 216 days to read the NT. This is a little over 7 months. So even with days off, one could finish the NT in a year. The OT is about 3 times as long so you would have to tack on an additional 15 minutes to finish the whole Bible in a year.

5. Some readers are reading both Old and New Testaments. There is a lot of insight and adventure in the OT. Some read ahead a little on the OT list just to see what is going to happen.

6. When you read a chapter or section, check it off on the list. Put a little date there so you can measure progress over the long haul.

7. When you miss a day just continue the readings in sequence. This is not a race.

8. As you start your scriptural adventure, do not undertake any precipitous actions based on a single snippet of reading. Just keep doing what you are doing. You need several months’ worth of reading to let the whole of God's word act on your being. For the most part, any possible changes will evolve gradually. The one exception to this might be the decision to accept the gift of salvation freely offered by handing one's life over to Christ.

To access the One Year Reading Plan, click here.