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Thoughts on Scripture Reading

I read the Bible every day. I participate in five reading plans through the Logos/Faithlife system. I read a proverb every day, I read through the gospels every four months, I read through the Bible chronologically every year, I read through the Epistles every six months and I read through the Psalms every year. I also read through the annual lectionary readings with the ESV app. This gives me several chapters all over the Bible every day.

It has been said for as long as I can remember that daily Bible reading is essential for the Christian life. What a person reads is not as important as opening the Bible and reading it, every day. I read a study years ago which said that the average American home has 9 Bibles but that the average America does not read the Bible more than once a month, if even that. I have talked to many who say the only exposure they get to he Bible is on Sundays. That only works if the pastor is preaching from the Bible. Today with Bible apps for every computer and every phone a person have have 50 or more Bibles at their fingertips. However, they must still open the app and read it.


Back in the day, churches had Bible studies during the week, and the Bible was read regularly during the church service. Today, church seems, for many, a social event, rather than a scripturally centered event. In our church we have a pulpit or lecture for Scripture reading and one for preaching. Back in the time of the Puritans, they would call the Scripture reading pulpit a mute pulpit because no preaching or comment would be made from that pulpit. We read long passages of Scripture every Sunday morning. Usually the passage I am preaching on an a Psalm. 1 Timothy 4:13 commands us: “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching,” so we do.

Whatever a church’s practice is, individuals need to open a Bible and read it, every day. This is because God has chosen to speak to us through the written word. Since God picked that means to relate to us, we need to read it. Of course, we can read or listen to the Word of God with the same benefit.

Most of my reading is done on my phone. With the Logos/Faithlife apps, I am reminded and given today’s reading without having to turn any pages. I can also do my reading anywhere, and I can have the Scripture read to me if I am driving or walking outside. Modern technology has made the reading of Scripture so simple and easy, yet we still need to make the effort and do it.

The Bible is the inerrant Word of God. It is error free and infallible. It is perfect in scope and completeness. It is everything God wants us to know about him. It is more than enough information to enter into salvation and eternal life with Christ. It is everything we need to believe and to live righteously. It is God’s love letter to us. Open your Bible today, God is speaking.


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