Daily Bible Reading

     I was told in school as a child that one of the most important subjects was reading.  If one can not read it will be very hard to learn any other subject.  For example, if one wants to be a historian, then he must know how to read historical documents. 

     As believers, if we are going to learn about God, then we must read the Bible.  Note the following verses emphasize the importance of reading God's Word.

        Isaiah 34:16 states, "Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read..."

        Colossians 4:16 states, "And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea."

     The King James Bible has 1,189 chapters.  If one reads 4 chapters per day, then he will easily read the Bible through in less than one year.  If one reads 3 chapters per day, then he can finish reading the Bible in approximately 13 months.  I personally prefer to count the number of pages in my Bible and divide by 365 to come up with how many pages to read to finish the Bible in one year.  For example the Bible I have on my desk has 1,353 pages total.  If I take 1,353 and divide it by 365, then I come up with 3.7 pages per day to read my Bible in one year.  I prefer the page method over the chapter method because some chapters in the Bible are very long and some are very short.

     The Bible does not specify how many times per year we are to read through it.  I think this number varies from person to person.  For example, somebody that works 50-60 hours per week may struggle to read the Bible through once per year, whereas as a retired person might can easily read the Bible through 3 or 4 times in a year.  The command for grace believers is to study and rightly divide the word.  Although there is no command on how many chapters or pages to read per day, I believe we do have a principle in Acts 17:11 to spend time in the Bible daily.

        "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." (Acts 17:11)