Another Theology Thursday is upon us! A few weeks ago, I challenged you (and myself) to adopt a Bible book. As I shared, my plan of attack is to read the gospels several times and then pick one to adopt. A brief update on my own headway in this challenge: I've decided to attempt to read all four gospels once a week from October - December; then I will make my choice and read my adopted gospel once a week during 2012. I suggested when I first presented the challenge that we couple this weekly reading with the reading of commentaries, etc. on our chosen book AND with the reading through of the Bible in a year. Today I'd like to share with you a few example schedules for reading the Bible in an entire year, in hopes that, even if you choose not to adopt a book at this time, you'll find the task of reading all of God's word in a relatively short amount of time a bit less daunting.
The Full-Speed-Ahead Approach
This approach to reading the Bible in a year is the simplest by far:
All you do is read straight through the Bible, 3-4 chapters a day if you want to read 7 days of the week OR 4-5 chapters a day if you want to read 5 days of the week. Only one bookmark is required.
The Little-Bit-of-Everything Approach
This approach is an extension of the Summer Bible Reading Challenge chart I borrowed from Mr. Ellis:
Using this plan, you will read a little from the Law/History, Wisdom/Prophets, and the New Testament each week. The average number of chapters you read each day are the same as with the first approach; however, reading from different sections of the Bible may help you 1) focus more on what you're reading and 2) make more connections between different Bible books.
The Legacy-Reading Approach
This approach was actually developed by Hank Hanegraaff in order to encourage daily Bible reading:
The title of the program is actually an acronym for Hanegraaff's Bible reading suggestions:
Location - reading in a private, quiet place
Essence - comprehension of God's communication by reading whole books
Genre - better understanding through realization of types of literature
Author - grouping books written by the same person
Context - grouping books next to related books (Rev next to OT prophecy, etc.)
Year - reading once a year, every year, for the rest of your life
Using this plan you'll read 3 or 5 chapters per day depending on whether you're reading 7 or 5 days a week, respectively, in addition to 3 Psalms/week (you'll read this book once per year) and 1 chapter of Proverbs/day (you'll read this book 12 times per year).
Personally, I think I'll try the third approach in 2012; it looks interesting, and it's a method I haven't tried before. Whether you use one of these schedules or not, I hope that this challenge helps inspire you to become a daily Bible reader!
As another form of encouragement, feel free to comment about your progress and/or struggles. I'll do the same periodically, and together we'll hold ourselves accountable. Sound like a plan?
