Do You Want To Keep Reading Your Bible This Year?

Life Happens

The new year is underway, and many of you have probably already started your new Bible reading plan. You’re likely working your way through Genesis and Matthew and starting to get into a groove. You’re getting up early or staying up late to read, you’re highlighting and underlining like crazy, and you’re enjoying it.

But as we all know, that dreaded Monday is soon to come. You won’t feel like getting out of bed to read. You’ll be too tired to stay up and read. Your eyes will just gloss over the page or you’ll totally lose focus while you’re listening to your favorite audio Bible.

Life happens, but the blessed man meditates on God’s Word “day and night” (Psalm 1:2). With such busy and hectic lives, we must keep reading our Bibles and seeking the Lord.

5 Tips To Help You Keep Reading

So, how do you abide in Christ (John 15:4) and walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16) in the 21st century? Though not even close to an exhaustive list, here are some practical tips that can help you spend more time in God’s Word this year:

​1) Acknowledge your dependence on God’s Word. 

Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 when He was tempted by Satan in Matthew 4:4. He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” If we want to live and thrive spiritually, we need to be eating the bread of the Word on a daily basis. Confess this to God and others on a regular basis. Deut. 8:11-14 serve as a good reminder that prosperity can lead to spiritual forgetfulness and carelessness.

2) Pray daily and ask for God to give you delight in His Word. 

Not only should you depend on the Word, you should enjoy it! Ask God to give you the heart of David when he said of the word: “more to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10).

3) Make Bible reading a part of your daily routine. 

Though it should be much more than a mere routine, reading the Bible should be something that you do every day. If you’re a list person, add it to the top of your daily to-do list. Keep a journal or document with your daily readings in it. In Deuteronomy 6:7, God called His people to talk about his Word when they sit in their house, as they walk, etc. The Word can’t go with us in all of life if we are not reading it and knowing it daily.

4) Meditate on something from your daily reading. 

Whether it is a journal, text message, or simply sitting in silence, do something to process a portion of your daily reading. It is vital that we “meditate day and night” (Psalm 1:2). This is a good time to ask: How does what I’m reading apply to my life?

5) Read the Bible with a spouse, your children, a friend, or an accountability partner. 

​One way to keep you reading the Word is to read and talk about it with others. We talk to people about what we delight in. If you have children, share your daily reading with them, too! Again, we see in Deuteronomy 6:7 to take the Word everywhere we go and to talk of them with everyone we meet.

Care For Your Soul Like You Do For Your Body

Put simply, Bible reading isn’t a thing you do to mark off your list. It is as vital to the soul as eating and drinking are to the body. Each week, we plan what we are going to eat, we make a grocery list, we shop, we cook, and we eat. Even when we don't do these things, we make sure our bodies are fed. All of this is to take care of body that is perishing (2 Corinthians 4:16). How much more diligence and care should we have for our eternal souls?

What are some practical tips that help you read your Bible day after day?