In addition to the daily Mass. and the duty of silent prayer, the most important spiritual practice I have embraced as a Christian is spending my time daily reading the scriptures. Even though I have read the Bible 12 times, I still have to read with a pencil in my hand. I am always finding new ideas, new connections, and falling more and more in love with the Lord when I know Him better. For me, it is not enough to read the books I love or the liturgy that the liturgy offers me – I have to struggle with difficult things and find meaning in boring things. And I need to know everything – not only to be able to argue, but to be able to live, breathe and love. This can only happen when I talk daily. This is what I do
When I first read the entire Bible, I started with Genesis and continued reading right up to Revelation.
It took me 5 years. Each time I did it consecutively for one year bible plan. The problem with my end-to-end approach (among other things) was that I was stuck in Leviticus or Ezekiel and it was difficult to motivate me to go through. When I switched to the annual Bible program, I had several chapters of the Book of Numbers daily, as well as a psalm and a half gospel chapter to motivate me. Besides, the readings were related to the data so I couldn’t afford to be left behind. I have used this program ten times and it has served me well, especially as it is loosely related to the liturgical year.
But people have been asking me for years how to start reading the Bible, and it wasn’t my old familiar schedule.
I realized that going through all the lists in a month and then going through the Pentateuch is not the best way. So I sat down and wrote a completely new program. It still takes you through the entire Bible over the course of the year (and the Gospels twice) but goes through the Old Testament chronologically (roughly) with the New Testament books and fun books like Ruth and Jonah scattered all over the place. mix things up. It also gives you a chapter on poetic things each day, instead of dragging you through the book of Proverbs for over 200 days. This program is easier to use, cheaper for those who have never read the Bible, and can be run any day of the year. So I’ll pass it on to you now!
Be warned: I didn’t start with simple things.
I can help you get started with the Bible by doing (relatively) simple and fun things first. My approach was not to leave the difficult things for last, but to sort them out. So if you’ve never read the Bible before, you can reserve two days for each day on your schedule or just start with the Psalms and the Gospels. The most important thing is to get started.
If you print this sketch on both sides, you can fold it to fit in the Bible.
And if you do print this, do yourself a favor and print my Bible timeline as well. This is the piece of paper that I always keep in my Bible – a brief explanation of how everything in the Old Testament relates to everything else. So if you are reading Hosea, you can have a look at how Hosea prophesied to Israel before the Assyrian exile. And you can even see there are two kingdoms in the Old Testament, a fact that I missed in the Bible until my third time.
Mid-Lent (Laetare!) Maybe it’s not the best time to give it to yourself, but Easter doesn’t mean the end of prayer, fasting, or almsgiving. Maybe you can start this program for Easter? Or any other day of the year. Or, read the Bible on a different schedule. But if you are a Christian and haven’t read the entire Bible, I really think you need to change that.
