what no one told me about reading the Bible.
It took about six days, on average, for me to ditch my Bible-in-a-year-plan every January. Six days. A fast fail. The only consistency I maintained was that it happened the same way every year.
Each December, the church I grew up in would hand out these little calendars that included a list of passages for each day so that, if you kept up with it, you’d end up reading through the whole Bible in a year. I remember taking them with intention – and even excitement – and thinking, I’m really going to do it. I’m going to read the whole Bible this year.
Growing up in church, I knew that reading your Bible was an important Christian thing to do – and that’s about the extent of what I understood. You should read your Bible. Calendars with reading plans were made available each year, and there you go. It turns out, that’s not really a formula for success. What ended up drawing me into scripture wasn’t the rule or the “should” of reading it, it was people I encountered who lived and spoke in such a way that made me want to know what they knew about God. The perk of growing up in church was that I immediately knew where to find that: His Word.
Once I started reading my Bible, I couldn’t stop. Which isn’t to say I woke up every day with enthusiasm about it – I didn’t. I don’t even think I read it every day. But I kept coming back to it. Over and over again, I would read a story or a phrase I didn’t understand and instead of breezing past it, I’d pray about it, journal about it, and Google about it. Other times, I’d come across a principle I already knew but didn’t realize was the Word of God and not just a nice idea some philosopher came up with. The more I read, the more I wondered, if this is true, what does it mean for my life and the decisions I’m making?
It wasn’t until a few weeks ago, when I sat down to write about my favorite ways to read the Bible, that I realized what had actually happened since I started reading it. I quit my job. I broke bad habits and had the courage to walk away from unhealthy things I really wanted to keep. I learned to recognize what is true – not just compared to lies, but compared to almost truths. I started taking God at His word and learned from experience (not just from the text) how He keeps His promises, how His word never comes back empty. I realized I have an endless supply of everything I need, that keeping my eyes on Jesus and staying in step with the Spirit brought true peace, joy, patience, self-control – things I completely lack without Him.
My whole life changed and flipped upside down, and it happened in such a way that I didn’t even realize what was happening. Don’t get me wrong, I knew something was happening. But like normal life, it felt uncomfortable and confusing and this too shall pass. I didn’t know it was God. I didn’t know – or think about – how spending time in the Word was spending time with Jesus, the Word made flesh. I didn’t know that each hard decision and bold step and fearless confrontation was fueled by the power of the Holy Spirit and slowly reshaping my entire life in a way that ushered me into freedom and life to the full. Looking back, of course He did that for me. But at the time, I didn’t know reading the Bible was like that.
I wish someone had told me that living a life of faith isn’t about trying super hard. It isn’t about rules and routines and disciplines. Those things help, but they don’t empower you or set you free – only Jesus does that. And that’s why we should read the Bible. Not because it’s the right thing to do. Not so you can read about His high standards about not doing what everyone else is doing and being holy. But so you can be with Him – the One who is the way.