Reading the Bible is not a chore and it’s not a checklist. It’s a chance to meet with God.
This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is December 31, 2024 and in this episode of Scripture for Students, I want to talk about How to Read Through the Bible in 2025.
To tell you the truth, I’m not a big instructions guy. If the lovely Mrs. Whitacre were to buy a piece of furniture from Ikea, I would rather just start putting the thing together than take the time to read the instructions. Occasionally, this works out ok, but a lot of times I discover that a little guidance would have gone a long way. When you find yourself wondering, “How do I do this?”, that might be the time to get some help.
Maybe some of you have tried reading through the Bible in a year before but you’re like me with that Ikea furniture: you made it to about the third week of January before the wheels fell off. I would like to try to offer you some practical advice on how to get started and how to keep going.
Let’s think this through in terms of what, when, where, and with whom!
First, what do you need to get started reading though the Bible in 2025? Technically, all you need for this is a Bible. And it will really help to have a plan. Of course you are free to use any Bible reading plan you like, but I’m encouraging you to use Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s plan. If you missed last week’s episode where I introduced you to Robert Murray M’Cheyne, check it out: it aired on December 27.
There are a few different ways you can keep track of your reading. If you have the ESV Bible app, the M’Cheyne plan is preloaded. You can tap through to the plan and read the assigned chapters there, or even have them read out loud to you. It will even keep track of what you’ve read for you. You can also subscribe to an email that puts all the assigned readings in your email inbox each day. Crossway also sells an ESV Daily Reading Bible laid out on the M’Cheyne plan.
You can even print customized Bible reading bookmarks: one for each spot of the Bible we will be reading in. Craft time!
Also, get inspired! If you have a eleven minutes and forty seconds to spare, let John Piper tell you about why he is committed to reading through the Bible every year.
What else do you need? Not much. I recommend you get a journal you like and a pen you like. Each day, see if you can write down at least one Bible verse that served your soul as you read. There are two reasons this is beneficial: first, writing it down will help you remember the verse. Second, I think you’ll be surprised at how much you’ll enjoy looking back over these verses in a year or two and remembering how God met you.
So that is what you need to get started. Now let’s talk about when and where. By when, I don’t just mean January 1: you already know that is when to start. I mean: when during the day are you going to do your reading? Remember that consistency is powerfully habit-forming! Make a plan here. When and where will you do your reading? It’s fine if you need to make an adjustment along the way, but it will go so much better for you if you make a plan and work the plan.
When it comes to when, I highly recommend that you find a way to read your Bible in the morning. It’s not wrong to read your Bible later in the day, but maybe you’ve heard the old saying, “Why wait until the concert is over to tune the instrument?” Psalm 57:8 says it even better, “Awake, my glory! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn!” Maybe you think you’re not a morning person? No problem! You can be. Getting good at getting up in the morning is all about getting to bed at a reasonable time the night before.
I don’t have much more to say about where other than this: whatever you do, don’t do your Bible reading while lying in bed. You really don’t want to begin to associate reading your Bible with falling back to sleep!
So we’ve talked about what, we’ve talked about when and where, now how should you think about: with whom will you read the Bible in 2025? I don’t mean that you need to physically sit with someone to read it each morning. But who can you enlist to read it alongside you? You could ask a friend to join you. The Whitacre family has done it together as a family a number of times. I think you will find that any job—including regularly reading the Bible—is much easier when you do it with someone else. Ecclesiastes 4:9 says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.” So find a friend and read the Bible together.
One more piece of advice: what should you do when you fall behind? Notice that I said when, not if. If you are only a couple days behind, you might just blitz it. Set aside thirty minutes or an hour, decide to read quickly, and get caught up. If you get more than a couple days behind and you think, I have no hope of catching up, just skip to the current day. Now, some of you might object and say, “I but then I won’t have read the whole thing!” To that, I say: “Fine.” It’s better to finish the year reading almost the whole Bible than to quit in March because you don’t think you can catch up. I’m giving you permission now to build in a catch up day. Do you remember what I said at the beginning of this episode? We want to build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. The more important thing is to stick with it over the long haul.
Finally, plan on enjoying this. Reading the Bible is not a chore and it’s not a checklist. It’s a chance to meet with God. Every day. And James 4:8 is true, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” Tomorrow is January 1. I look forward to getting started with you. Let’s read the Bible together in 2025.
That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend and follow us on Apple Podcasts.
This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing!