I'm a few days behind in blogging and my reading is now ahead of my blogging.
Last time when I got behind, I plowed through and did two chapters a day for a couple of days to catch up. While this is fine in some ways, I think that I lost some persons and lost some continuity in doing that.
Let me take a minute to emphasize that the purpose of our daily reading is not to check off some list. Many times our reading "discipline" can become more of a duty and we get focused on getting it done and miss out on the real purpose.
So ask yourself, "Why do I/Why should I read the Bible each day?" What is the purpose? What is the goal?
Ultimately our life is about relationships - first with God and then with those around us. Jesus said to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind - that this was the greatest commandment and that the second is like it - to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:28-31).
Our goal in reading the scripture daily is to develop a real, living relationship with God. To know him, to listen to him, to spend time with him, to get direction from him, to love him and express our love to him.
Because that is the goal, for many people I find that reading one chapter a day is better than reading more. For many years in my life I read around three chapters a day because at that rate you can read through the Bible in about a year. If you haven't read through the Bible completely, then this is a very good thing to do and I recommend it to you. On the other hand, I wouldn't recommend that as a starting place for a new believer in Christ unless you are a very avid reader and have plenty of time each day. And many times I would say the same thing for someone who has been in Christ and has read through the Bible a few times - I would recommend a slower pace than three chapters a day unless you are a very avid reader and have plenty of time each day.
The key is to be reading at a pace that allows you to understand what you are reading and to take time to speak to God about what you are reading. If you just rush through the reading to get it done it doesn't do you much good. It helps some, but not nearly as much as spending time with God.
The daily part is important because when Jesus taught his disciples to pray, part of the prayer outline that he taught them was "give us this day our daily bread" (Matt 6:11). Clearly this indicates a daily prayer time if we are praying for our "daily" bread (it also indicates a morning prayer time but that discussion is for a different time :) ). Jesus also said that man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matt 4:4). So in addition to our daily eating, we should be praying daily and we should be listening to God's word daily as well.
If you think about it in the context of a relationship, those people with whom you have the closest relationship, you have daily time spent together, daily talking, daily sharing of life. More time together develops a deeper, closer relationship.
So, with that being said, I am going to pick back up on the Blog on 1 Thess 4 and I'll move my reading back to that same place.
Last time when I got behind, I plowed through and did two chapters a day for a couple of days to catch up. While this is fine in some ways, I think that I lost some persons and lost some continuity in doing that.
Let me take a minute to emphasize that the purpose of our daily reading is not to check off some list. Many times our reading "discipline" can become more of a duty and we get focused on getting it done and miss out on the real purpose.
So ask yourself, "Why do I/Why should I read the Bible each day?" What is the purpose? What is the goal?
Ultimately our life is about relationships - first with God and then with those around us. Jesus said to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind - that this was the greatest commandment and that the second is like it - to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:28-31).
Our goal in reading the scripture daily is to develop a real, living relationship with God. To know him, to listen to him, to spend time with him, to get direction from him, to love him and express our love to him.
Because that is the goal, for many people I find that reading one chapter a day is better than reading more. For many years in my life I read around three chapters a day because at that rate you can read through the Bible in about a year. If you haven't read through the Bible completely, then this is a very good thing to do and I recommend it to you. On the other hand, I wouldn't recommend that as a starting place for a new believer in Christ unless you are a very avid reader and have plenty of time each day. And many times I would say the same thing for someone who has been in Christ and has read through the Bible a few times - I would recommend a slower pace than three chapters a day unless you are a very avid reader and have plenty of time each day.
The key is to be reading at a pace that allows you to understand what you are reading and to take time to speak to God about what you are reading. If you just rush through the reading to get it done it doesn't do you much good. It helps some, but not nearly as much as spending time with God.
The daily part is important because when Jesus taught his disciples to pray, part of the prayer outline that he taught them was "give us this day our daily bread" (Matt 6:11). Clearly this indicates a daily prayer time if we are praying for our "daily" bread (it also indicates a morning prayer time but that discussion is for a different time :) ). Jesus also said that man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matt 4:4). So in addition to our daily eating, we should be praying daily and we should be listening to God's word daily as well.
If you think about it in the context of a relationship, those people with whom you have the closest relationship, you have daily time spent together, daily talking, daily sharing of life. More time together develops a deeper, closer relationship.
So, with that being said, I am going to pick back up on the Blog on 1 Thess 4 and I'll move my reading back to that same place.
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