Twenty One Days of Love

I was talking about the Book of Numbers this past weekend with my wife and daughter. That sentence sounds a little overly pious. The pastor’s family sitting around and talking about the Old Testament may fit some sort of stereotype, but you’re not sure you actually want to invite them over for dinner.

            But the sentence is true. We were discussing the Book of Numbers the other night and the night before that we were talking about Leviticus and a couple of nights later we were discussing Deuteronomy. And I don’t get any credit for this. In fact, if I had gotten what I wanted, it wouldn’t have worked like this at all.

            My seventeen year old daughter, Griffin, is reading the whole Bible. She started with Genesis and is working her way straight through. The reason this isn’t what I wanted is, as I told her, this is the way least likely to be successful.

Most people who start at Genesis and try to read their way to the back of the Bible never make it half as far as Griffin has. She already racing through Judges and will probably have passed Ruth by the time you read this column. She will likely be successful for two reasons. First, her father told her she couldn’t do it. Second, she wants to see it through.

Gentle reader, you may wonder why I would have discouraged my daughter in her quest to read the Bible straight through. I’m one of the ones who couldn’t pull that off. When I first tried to read the Bible start to finish, I pushed my way through Genesis easily enough, slogged through parts of Exodus and bogged down in Leviticus. I didn’t have my daughter’s determination or stamina.

Later, I got a One Year Bible that broke the Bible up into daily readings of 15-20 minutes each and my wife, Victoria, and I read it to each other each night two years in a row. Each day we read a short reading from the Old Testament, a short reading from the New Testament and a little of the Psalms and a few verses from Proverbs.

Since, then we have taken up a pattern of daily reading which has us re-reading the Bible every two years and reading it through in Sunday worship every three years. That keeps us marinating in God’s Word, which is the best way to try to read the scripture. Instead of running to the Bible for answers to questions, we continually read the Bible and find that informs our day to day lives more effortlessly.

Again and again, we find that the readings for the day speak to where we are in our lives. Yes, there are days when the words don’t connect in any meaningful way. There are many days where it feels like a discipline with no real effect. But we just keep reading.

In the same way that physical exercise takes commitment, so do spiritual exercises such as scripture reading, prayer and attending worship. Sometimes these will connect and sometimes they will leave you wondering why you bother. But keep at it and the real rewards kick in.

For those of you who have a pattern of reading the scripture, feel encouraged in the practice you have now. But if the gilt edges of your family Bible still stick together or the 1.2 Bibles in your average American home are collecting dust, I have a solution for you.

Some psychologists have theorized that it takes three weeks to build up a habit. Try something for a few days and you will still easily fall back into earlier patterns. But try a new practice for 21 days and you will more likely stick with it. My twenty-one day plan is this. Read the Gospel of John, one chapter a day.

Find time, preferably first thing in the morning or at lunch, any time when you still have energy. If possible, do not leave this until bed time. Then each day at the same time, read a single chapter of John’s Gospel. It will be tempting to read more. If you really still want to read, then re-read the same chapter. Go no farther than one a day. In twenty-one days, you will have read through the Gospel.

Sometimes called the love Gospel, John was written by Jesus’ own beloved disciple and you will find yourself immersed for three weeks in the love of Jesus.

What next? Now that you have the habit of reading a little of the Bible each day, try a one chapter a day, 28 day tour through Matthew, then 16 days with Mark and 24 days with Luke.

Those three months of reading will have you grounded in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, which is the best possible lens through which to read the rest of the Bible. You will be ready then to look for a one or two year plan to read through the whole 66-book library which is the Bible.

Start with any Bible you already own. Along the way, you will have questions and so you will want to pick up a study Bible. These have notes on each page which help you better understand the references in the text. After all, the Bible was written thousands of years ago and though it speaks clearly and distinctly to our own times, it will help if you better understand the life and times in which it was first written.

I suggest the very popular New International Version Study Bible, which is widely available. But any translation you want to read will also be found in a study Bible version. I also love the New Living Translation, which is the best version available in the most up-to-date American English. I have nothing against the venerable King James Version, but it takes further translation to understand the meaning of some of its English words in today’s English.

Whether you follow the pattern I recommend above, or take the straight-through approach being blazed by my daughter, find a pattern that works for you. If you don’t get anything out of the readings, keep reading. You will be amazed at what a difference a few weeks committed to daily Bible reading will do for your life. This is not some mere book. The Bible is God’s living Word and God will use the readings to speak to your heart in ways that defy belief if you haven’t tried it for yourself.

(The Rev. Frank Logue is pastor of King of Peace Episcopal Church in Kingsland.)