The most popular excuse for why many people don't read as much of the Bible as they'd like is because there is no time for it. I've heard this excuse many times and probably used it myself. To be fair, life is hectic, and often, it seems like we are running at 100 MPH; days are not just passing by, they're flying by. Right now, with the whole Corona thing, everything really slowed down (probably the slowest we've ever seen it), but my question is, has your Bible reading picked up? I have a few theories: first, our Bible reading probably hasn't changed much, and second, our Bible reading (or lack thereof) is not a problem of time scarcity.
No desire? No problem!
If you are a person who honestly wants to start reading the Bible more, the first thing you need to understand is that you will not always have the desire, inspiration, and passion. Last year, I got a gym membership; I was super motivated to lose some weight by starting a diet and working out. The first few weeks were great. I'd go to the gym like three times a week, I felt good about it, and quickly started seeing progress. I lost about 10 pounds in my first month, and once I realized that I was getting close to my weight loss goal, I started to lose motivation to keep up the workouts. So, to wrap up the story, I ended up losing almost 15 and my inspiration to continue. Weight loss was my goal, and as I got comfortable with meeting my goal, I lost desire to continue working out. By the third week, I might have went once, and the following month, I didn't go at all. In the third month, I cancelled my membership. Sad story... Don't let this happen to your Bible reading! Your Bible reading cannot be based on your desire alone, because believe me, you will not always have a desire. When you don't feel a desire, that is where discipline needs to kick in. Desire is like a kickstarter that gets you fired up about a long road trip, and discipline is like cruise control, which actually helps you reach your destination. As far as the goal, that can be more personal, and not just limited to the amount of chapters you want to read. You definitely need to have some kind of quota, but the more important goal needs to be deeper than that.
How?
There are probably thousands of different Bible reading plans out there, and I am sure they are all great, so it's up to you whether you use one or not. From my experience, I have never used a formal plan, but instead have my own little system that I developed. I have a parallel Russian/English(NASB) Bible and try to read in both languages. My plan is very simple. I start the old and new testament at the same time, and read a few chapters of each as I move along, and also rotate with the languages. I try to read a few chapters in the morning, and a few in the evening. Once I finish the NT or OT, I just start over on that testament and keep going. One thing I will mention about why I don't think you should be reading simply cover to cover is because you will be in the old testament for a long time, and that goes against my understanding that you should always be reading from the new testament. The Gospel and the story of our redemption is by far the most interesting and most important topic in the Bible, and I don't think you should go without reading it for an extended period of time.
My advice-- take this Corona time to implement a realistic Bible reading plan, and stick to it once life goes back to being crazy. I believe that it is simply impossible to live a fruitful, holy, and victorious Christian life without consistent and adequate Bible reading. Jesus wasn't over-exaggerating when He called the word of God our spiritual bread-- literally, you cannot survive without it. God bless you, take care, and let me know how it goes!
Nu·tri·ent - a substance that provides nourishment essential for growth and the maintenance of life.
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