“One of these days some simple soul
will pick up the Book of God,
read it and believe it.”
If life is a story, then there must be a Story-Teller…
The Bible is first a Story. It’s the Story that explains the beginning of all things, the purpose of all things, how to understand good & evil, & ultimately the destiny of all things. Or in other words, the Bible Story is a journey from creation to New Creation, from brokenness to redemption.
It’s a compelling Story — the most compelling Story — but…..
Reading the Bible can be confusing
The Bible can, admittedly, be hard to understand. You maybe started reading at one time in your life, with good intentions, but then gave up when it didn’t seem to be making a difference in your life. We get it.
But the Bible has changed literally millions of lives throughout history… so why not you too?
2 ways to think about Bible reading
Reading the Bible is like (1) planting a garden, or (2) hiking a mountain. To do either of those things well and with enjoyment, it requires a different approach than most other normal things in life. It requires:
patience, perseverance, people, and promise
When planting a garden, not every day (or even season) will produce fruit for harvest or flowers that bloom. When hiking a mountain, we can’t reach the summit in a matter of minutes. Some gardening days are days of pruning or cutting back. Some hikes require challenging, overnight, backwoods climbing, with no glimpses of the mountaintop until several days later. Oftentimes, both gardening and hiking will seem mundane, laborious, or even frustrating. But, we start a garden or begin a hike because of the hope of the promise of fruit that will come, or a stunning summit view. That’s what keeps us going…
A few first things to set you up for success
Bible reading, like gardening and hiking, can be deeply transforming. Here’s 4 principles:
Slow down — Most everything else in life tells us to speed up. A substantial Bible reading time only takes a few minutes each day. But be all there when you do read. So try to eliminate distractions and set aside undivided time, and be patient as you read. There should be no rush.
Day-by-day — Try not to give up when you’re tired, or when it gets difficult. Keep trying. There’s great value in simply not giving up.
Talk it out — At least 1x/week or even a few times a month, talk about what you’re reading with someone else. Tell them what you’re liking, disliking, confused by, questioning, etc. Like a good book club or going to a class, so too does Bible reading come alive when discussed with others. Further down on this webpage are some good suggestions for this.
There’s a promise — What’s the point of Bible-reading? It’s not to accomplish a task or check a spiritual box. The real goal? To meet the Living God day-by-day. And God promises to do that when we read the Bible. The Bible Story tells the beginning and end of all things, and most importantly, Who is with us throughout it all. That is pretty motivating!
Avoid these common traps
Because we live in a fast and information-driven age, a lot of people end up falling into a couple of common, harmful traps when trying to read the Bible. So below are a 2 things we don’t recommend you do. These are common ways people try to read or learn the Bible, but they’re not particularly helpful and can actually be harmful to your true understanding of the message of the Bible:
Don’t just open to a random page. It’s like starting a movie halfway through, or even worse, like opening another person’s mailbox and reading their mail! It’s confusing and unlikely to help.
Don’t just google or YouTube things. If you have real questions and want to learn, there are better, more assured ways to get real answers. While some online resources and teachers are very good, many others are very bad and can you lead astray.
There’s a better way. Instead,…
Still here!? Great! Here’s how to start reading the Bible right now
*Begin by reading the Gospel of John
On your own. Just you, the gospel of John, and God. That’s right, on your own. No help or voices or preconceptions. Come fresh to this text and see what sparks in your soul. Come earnest and curious and sincere… and see what happens.
Why start at the beginning of the New Testament? Why start 3/4 of the way through the Bible and not at Genesis on page 1?
The Gospel of John is the clearest example of what the Bible is all about. As one of the 4 Gospels (or biographies) about Jesus, its purpose is all showing you God and what his relationship with his creation and humanity is like. It’s about how all the bad things in the world are going to be made right again. And it shows how one man — Jesus Christ of Nazareth — is God-in-the-flesh and lived his life to change the world forever.
We’ll gift you this beautiful Gospel of John book for free at the church.
Get a Bible. You can find it online at Bible.com or scan the QR code to download a free app for your phone. Or you can buy a hardcopy online anywhere. Our church would LOVE to gift you a beautiful Bible for free. Click the black box at the top of this page.
Pick a translation/version. The Bible was originally written in Hebrew and Greek, so there are now many different English translations. For experienced readers, we recommend the English Standard Version (ESV) or the New International Version (NIV). For brand new, first-time readers, we recommend the New Living Translation (NLT).
Find a quiet space & time for reading. Set aside a time and space for at least 15 minutes so that you can be fully present and not distracted. Set aside your phone :)
What to read? Don’t go the “random Scripture” route. Pick a plan (see above) and be consistent with it. As we said above, start with John. But after that. Try to do Old & New Testament readings each day. We suggest at least one chapter of reading each day, but many Scriptures are narratives, so read as much as you want! Click here to see how long it takes to read each book of the Bible.
Before you begin reading, say this simple prayer… “God, please open my heart and mind to be taught from this reading today. Soften my spirit to humbly receive whatever you want to give me today. Amen.” Or anything similar to that. It’s simply a way of treating this book differently than Harry Potter or other books you read. The point is that not only do you read the Bible… in another real sense, the Bible also reads you.
As you read, go through the 3-step process of observe, interpret, apply. In that order.
Another suggestion while you read is to ask 3 questions — (1) What does this reading tell me about God? (2) About me? (3) About how God & me can be brought back into deep friendship?
As you finish, pray a simple prayer of gratitude and ask God to help whatever you learned to be lived out in your life.
Bottomless treasures for a lifetime
“The Bible is shallow enough for a child not to drown,
yet deep enough for an elephant to swim. ”
Now, after reading John on your own in the raw, below are 4 of our best suggestions for ways to continue reading the Bible on your own. Read below and see what works well for you. And include us in your journey, so we can encourage you!
Try Reading through the whole Bible in 1 year.
This is the best way to grow. As one writer says, “Even dripping water can hollow out a stone.” Reading through the entirety of the Bible in a year will change your life. It just will. Let the daily drip of Bible reading transform your heart year after year.
We suggest the Bible Project’s reading plan, which you can complete in 358 days. It guides you each day through different daily readings, including 1 Psalm (the poems, journals, prayers, & songs of the Bible) each day.
The link below not only gives you daily readings, but also wonderfully helpful videos to watch that will help you not get lost or confused.
Click the picture above for videos, blogs, & tons of helpful resources, for both brand new and experienced Bible readers.
2. Listen to the Public Reading of Scripture.
Another option is to join a weekly call with people from around the world and simply listen to the Bible being read to you in large chapter chunks. This is done on Zoom and includes an opening Psalm, an Old Testament passage, a New Testament passage, and a closing Psalm.
Click the link below to sign-up for a Zoom group.
Click the picture above to learn more about how reading the aloud with others in public can transform your life.
3. read & Meditate on what we’re preaching on Sundays at church.
Each Sunday we commit to preaching the Bible. In some seasons it’s the Old Testament, in some seasons it’s the New Testament, and in the summer we do the Psalms. Whatever the case, this is a simple way to start reading and to have teaching done on what you’re reading.
Click the link below to find our past and current sermons to listen to and to read from.
Click the picture above to see what we’ve preached over the last few years. Pick a series and listen in to God’s Word read and taught.
4. Join our local Zoom Bible Study (7:20pm each Wednesday).
Join real people from our church in Salem in a Bible reading and discussion each week on Zoom, led by Pastor Steven. We listen to new prayer updates from one other, read the Bible together, investigate the big themes of that Bible book, encourage one another from it, and then finish again with prayer.
Click the link below to join our weekly Zoom. It’s usually a multi-generational group of 5-10 men & women.
Click the picture above to learn more.
“Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years. ”