How to read the bible

So why the Bible? Because God is bound to keep His word. He is serious about communicating timeless truth about Himself to a world that is in constant flux. He claims to be the same, yesterday, today and forever – so let’s have it in writing!

The Bible was penned by men but authorised and inspired by God. It is self-authenticating – pick it up, read it with an open heart – see what God has said and is saying through it. No accessories or extra magazines needed.

Why the Bible isn’t scary

The Bible isn’t scary because God is good and so we love hearing what He has to say. The Bible isn’t scary because you don’t have to read it all in one sitting! The Bible isn’t scary because it’s been translated from the original languages into most modern languages so that everyone can understand it – it’s an open secret! A good place to start is the book of Mark, which is the most concise of the four accounts of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

Why the Bible is scary

The Bible is scary because it’s God’s word and so we tremble at it. The Bible is scary because it gets right to the heart of the matter which means that it deals with matters of the heart. The Bible is scary because it calls us to change – and change can be scary.

So how should we read the Bible?

First of all - slowly!
If I had just one word to describe 'how', that's the word I'd use. London life is like a crazy tornado and it's quite seductive in a funny way. If we're bouncing around here, there and everywhere we can feel important and like our life is worth something but beware, it can become addictive and it can lead to a harried and hassled state of heart over time. We can start to bounce around the Bible and bounce in out of prayer in a way that is never settled - we can forget how to rest, we can forget how to eat good spiritual meals and just snack on the go the whole time. This inevitably leads to spiritual malnourishment - it's fine to snack, but not to replace proper meals, to supplement them. Let your time in the Bible be quality time - trust me, there's no rush!

Secondly, mix up how you go about it.
Maybe try to read it through in a year, but also take some bite-size chunks to memorize and chew over and ponder on. Then maybe take one of the books in the Bible and stay with it for a month, getting really familiar with it - this will give you a knowledge of the book that will get into you for years. Maybe do a theme study and go through the whole Bible on that theme (e-sword is a brilliant programme to search for all the references to key words in the whole Bible). Alternate between Old Testament and New Testament. Alternate between the genres - narrative (Genesis-Job, Matthew-Acts), wisdom (Proverbs-Ecclesiastes), prophetic (Isaiah-Malachi), epistles (Romans-Jude), apocalyptic (second half of Daniel, parts of Zechariah but mostly Revelation), poetry (Psalms).

Finally, ask yourself some important questions, like 'What does this tell me about the character of God?', 'Why is this in the Bible?', 'What does this tell me about people?', 'What can I take from this to help me live a more worshipful life?', 'How can I 'do' what I've just read?'. These questions should safeguard you from an approach to the Bible that is purely academic or theoretical - Jesus said that it's the ones who do what He says that will be blessed - hearing isn't enough!"