5 Reasons You Should Be Reading Through the Entire Bible

If you read through the Bible often, you will begin to see themes in Scripture that you cannot see otherwise. An example that usually comes to mind is the sovereignty of God in salvation. This subject is usually “hotly contested” on among Christians, and yet it can usually be resolved with a reading of Genesis-Revelation on a regular basis. God’s choosing of men runs through both Testaments and most books in the Bible. If you are just reading a few verses here or a paragraph there, chances are you will miss some of the greatest themes in Scripture.

If you read through the Bible often, you are reading it the way God intended it to be read. If someone wrote you a 10-page letter, would you read pg. 3 and then jump to pg. 7 and then go back and read the bottom of pg. 4? None of us would do that, because there is an intended order to the letter. It’s no different with our Bibles. God intended for Moses to record the 1^st section of books in the Bible; it’s the “greeting” of God’s letter.

If you read through the Bible often, you will never be wasting your time.All of God’s Word is sufficient (II Timothy 3:16-17) and all of God’s Word has the power to help you be more God-like (II Peter 1:3). Therefore, the apostles were not ashamed to preach the whole Bible to their audience (Acts 20:27).

If you read through the Bible often, you will get the opportunity to observe, interpret and apply those passages of Scripture that are unusually difficult, but are as sufficient as the rest.Passages like Ezekiel’s wheel in Ezekiel 1 or the events of the end days in Revelation 6-22 or the Song of Solomon or God hating Esau and loving Jacob in Romans 9. Some avoid these passages because they don’t want to debate others or think too hard about God’s Word. But we are not meant to always have “chicken soup for the soul”; we need to challenge our thinking more often than we do. I don’t meet too many mature Christians who have never read through the entire Bible.

If you read through the Bible often, you are less likely to mis-interpret Scripture.A common malady for Christians is taking verses out of context. This is the danger of using devotional books as the primary diet for Bible intake. Most devotionals look at one verse – or maybe a few verses – and just elevate some phrase or application without considering the context and whether the application is even accurate. The classic example is Philippians 4:13 that many Christians claim as a mantra of God enabling us to do whatever we want, because He is all-powerful. But the verse – in its context – is about being content in whatever circumstances God allows us.

My encouragement to you is simple: be a Bible-reader, but be a Bible-reader that digests God’s Word daily and sequentially. If you are looking for a good place to start, and you can start on any day that is not January 1, start by reading 3 chapters every day and 5 on Sunday. That simple Bible reading plan will get you through the entire Bible by April 23, 2020.