reading the WHOLE Bible

Have you ever read the whole Bible?

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I'm often surprised by how many people, who have been Christians for a very long time, can't say "yes" to that question. I'm not here to bring judgement, but I will say that to thrive as a believer, we need to be in the Word. And not the same books of the Bible that we always read. Does anyone else cycle through their top ten books over and over and over again? Just me?

I've read the entire Bible several times since becoming a Christian back in high school, but it was often verrrrrrry slowly. Which is fine. Maybe even better. I was able to study each book thoroughly because I was reading slowly. But the problem with taking your time reading through is it's very easy to miss the themes and storyline.

And can we talk about the New Testament for a minute? Why are us Christians so obsessed with the NT and so often totally disregard the Old Testament? Both speak of Jesus, both speak of God's plan, and both are inspired and beautiful and true. We need to read both!

So with these thoughts in mind, plus my new years resolution to read the Bible every day PLUS a random thing I read on Facebook today, I decided to read the whole Bible, cover-to-cover, beginning to end, in a very short period of time.

My friend Brianna posted, asking if anyone had done the "Read The Bible In 90 Days" plan and how long per day it took them. I have never heard of this plan, but I know I've attempted many a Bible reading plan and failed just as many. I'm a high challenge kind of girl, so when I saw that I was instantly spurred on to read the Bible how I've described. But how would I do it?

I did something really simple. I noted the number of pages in my Bible. 1874. It's a study Bible and I won't be reading every introduction section or each study note, so it's a lot less than that of literal God's Word, but that's the number it said so that's how I figured it out. Then I divided up the number by 30. Could I do it in a month? It would mean 62 pages per day (let's not get crazy, it's actually far less when you count all the study material that I wouldn't be reading). But still, 62 is A LOT. I feel like I could read half that daily, so that would mean reading the Bible in 2 months. Still a vast improvement on my past record of finishing it in a year, and then circling the New Testament for years before getting back into the OT.

But that still wasn't sitting right with me. I don't want to be legalistic about this or set myself up to fail, but I do desire to read the WHOLE Bible, start to finish, in a short period of time. So I decided to aim for 60 pages per day, but really just to read as long as I could and for reading the Word to be my first option when I had the time. First option. As in, the minute my other responsibilities are done (caring for my kids, feeding my husband, etc) and before blogs, before TV (I'm sorry, Downton!), before laundry, before browsing Etsy, before texting with friends, before ANYTHING.

If reading the Bible was my first option all day, every day, and I prioritized reading large portions of it before doing other leasurely activities, how long would it take me to read the WHOLE Bible? I feel like, not long. Because friends, I'm a procrastinator and I have a lot of hobbies and I know how to use up my free time. And reading big chunks of the Word often isn't in the equation. Sure, I'll read a chapter or so before bed, but the big parts? The long hours sitting with the book of Truth? Na. That's not usually in my daily schedule.

But what if it was?

Well. It is. And by blogging it, I'm making it public, so hello, accountability! I think it would be cool to finish by the end of February but I don't want to set something too much in stone. Right now, though, I'm committing to reading heaps of the Word every.single.day. Scores more than I usually do.

I'll keep you updated :)