Strategies for Reading Your Bible More in the New Year

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 Strategies for Reading Your Bible More in the New Year:

Here are some strategies, ideas, and tips to encourage you to read your Bible more in the new year. These tips are in no particular order, with no context. 


  • Pick a consistent time and location to read your Bible. This will aid you in becoming more disciplined and begin forming a habit. (I have a particular spot on the couch I read my Bible. My reading Bible, pens, and highlighters all live there next to that spot on the couch, to my wife's chagrin.)

  • Read your Bible, preferably in the morning. If you try to read your Bible right before bed, real scientific studies have shown that you will, in fact, fall asleep. Plus, you want to pray and read your Bible before the day's battles have begun, not after they are over. Then you can also marinate on the Word throughout the day and apply the word throughout your day. 

  • Find a Bible reading plan. Our church uses a community bible reading plan (now called “Seeing Jesus Together”). There are also different Bible reading plans available with printout checklists for free on the internet. My personal preference is to read some from the Old Testament, New Testament, and Wisdom Literature (Job-Song of Songs). I am currently doing three chapters of OT, two chapters of Wisdom Literature, and 3 Chapters of NT. This has me reading the OT once a year and the NT 3-4 times a year (I did 5/2/5 for a while, but it was difficult to maintain). Click here for some Bible reading plans. 

  • Journal Bibles can be used in a couple of ways. The traditional way is to use them for journaling your thoughts in the margin this helps you engage the text if you are more of a reading/writing learner. You can also use the journal portion to write notes and observations if you are less contemplative. If the journal feature is new to you, it makes for a new experience reading through the Bible. I prefer a single-column (over double-column) journalling Bible because it is easier to make references to particular verses due to the format.

  • Consider changing Bible versions. I have been reading through the ESV since 2004. Over the past several years, I read through the CSB, and this highlighted new things for me in the Scriptures. This year I am reading through the Legacy Standard Bible (LSB). I still use the ESV as my main study and teaching Bible. However, changing translations and consistently reading through that same translation all year has been refreshing. (I will eventually read through the NET, NLT, and might revisit the NIV). 

  • Pens, highlighters, and rulers. Some consider writing, highlighting, and underlining in their Bible to be taboo. However, most find highlighting, underlining, and writing to be enjoyable ways to meditate on God’s Word. I use a small clear ruler to underline because it provides a near-perfect line that does not obscure the text when compared to a free-handed line. I even have a personal system for colors. Green pens and highlighters are used for geographical things in the text. Blue pens and highlighters are used for theological themes in a book. Black pen and yellow highlighter are used for more general verses of interest. (I prefer Pigma Micron pens 01 or 0.25mm and Zebrite Highlighters. Pigma is a feat of Japanese engineering. If you prefer German engineering and Schnitzel, try Staedtler pens.)     

  • Read a quick intro or overview of the book of the Bible you are going to begin reading. The ESV Study Bible offers a great overview that will help you get a quick overview of the purpose of the book, and there is a free version of the intro on their website. Reading an intro also reminds you of specific theological themes that are used in the book, and helps you ground the book in the overall historical timeline of the entire Bible. (Was Jeremiah written before or after the exile? Read an overview of Jeremiah, and that book might not be so hard to read next time.)

  • Ask your friends and family what they are learning in their Bible reading. In particular, ask your friends what God is teaching them through his Word. This will encourage them and encourage you. 

  • What if I am an auditory learner? God has gifted you with being an auditory learner, and reading is labor intensive. It is not your fault you are a great listener!  The average audio Bible reading takes only 75 hours to listen through (there are now free apps on your phone you can get to listen through the Bible, and you can download a copy through Audible). If you listen to the Bible for 12-13 minutes a day, you can make it through the Bible in one year. Listen to the Bible on your commute, on a walk, while folding laundry, or on a road trip. (One time, I listened to the last six chapters of the book of Daniel while sitting on a mountainside in the backcountry of Colorado, waiting for a hail storm to let up. The apocalyptic literary genre of Daniel made for a memorable and surreal experience listening to the Word of God in those conditions.) It is also refreshing to listen to different versions and different readers. 

  • Finally, read with your kids. With my younger kids, we use “the Beginner’s Bible” and “the Jesus Storybook Bible.” With my older kids, we have been slowly reading through the Bible with them and trading out who reads. 


Quick Update:
I transitioned from my career to prayerfully working through planting a church in the Cypress area of Texas. If you would like to read more about that: click here. If you have questions on why we should be planting more healthy Christ-centered churches: click here.

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