WHY AND HOW to read the whole bible in a year
I heard people suggest reading the whole Bible and how fruitful the experience was for them, but the task seemed impossible to me. I brushed the thought aside many times, doubting my discipline to complete the whole reading and thinking that I would get hung up on books like Leviticus and Deuteronomy. After listening to several Daily Grace Co. podcasts that reemphasized reading the whole Bible, I knew God was calling me to get to know Him in scripture, so I brought the idea to Trevor in our 2020 goal-planning session. After some initial pushback in late 2019, he decided to commit to the goal with me. In January 2020, we added “Whole Bible Reading Plan” to our goal board, and now, here we are in mid-December and on track to complete our goal in 2 weeks! If you’re anything like us and doubting your ability to read the whole Bible, keep reading to see our tips for holding yourself accountable and getting to know God through His word!
So Why Read the Whole Bible in a Year?
We knew reading the whole Bible would be a daily time commitment, but we also knew the fruit of the efforts would be worth it. As a couple, we agreed that reading the whole Bible in a year would allow us to:
- Live out our spiritual walk and grow in discipline through the daily habit of reading the Word
- Grow as disciples in our knowledge of God’s Word, His character, and our need for a Savior
- Grow together as a couple in our faith
TIPS for success:
Due to the sheer size and time commitment of this goal, we knew that breaking the task into bite-sized pieces would help us to stay on track. We applied many of the concepts in the book Atomic Habits to create a strong daily habit of Bible reading. Below are some practical tips that have helped us make consistent progress towards our goal that we hope you will find useful too:
1. Select A Reading Plan:
How much time per day do you want to commit towards this goal? How many days a week do you want to commit to reading?
The Five Day Bible Reading plan that we use runs 5 days with 2 catch-up days each week. The readings average about 4-5 chapters per day (which vary in length) and generally take 30-45 minutes to complete. The plan simultaneously goes through different parts of the Bible rather than going chronologically. (*note: a month straight of Deuteronomy can bog down any motivated Bible reader if not tied into the hope of the New Testament…) Our daily reading usually includes a chapter from the Old Testament, Psalms or Proverbs, and New Testament.
There are also many other plans that include 6 or 7 days per week of readings. While these plans offer less of a time commitment each day, there is also less room for a catch-up day if you fall behind.
2. Establish A Morning Routine:
If a goal is a major daily priority, we’ve found the most success completing it first thing in the morning, and making time with our God should be a major priority! We would recommend completing readings first thing instead of in the evenings as we never know what the day might bring. We use our daily Bible reading to purposefully set our mind, spirit, priorities, and attitudes before we walk out the door!
Our daily Bible reading takes about 30-45 minutes per day on top of other morning tasks. This means we must plan ahead to wake up early, which means that we must plan our bedtime in order to get enough sleep, and must manage our time better. Trevor wakes up every day 1.5 hours before walking out the door in order to have enough time for daily reading, journaling, and prayer.
I (Natalie) have had trouble with consistently completing readings first thing in the morning. However, I know that I have to give myself grace if I don’t complete it before making it out the door. That being said, I have missed only a couple of days this whole year (which I made up on weekends), and I think that has to do with step 3 below.
3. Establish An Accountability System:
Find an accountability partner who has the same goals and motivations as you. They should be someone you will have contact with on a daily basis for accountability and discussions.
Print a progress tracker and display it in a place where you will see it daily — we recommend hanging it on the refrigerator or bathroom mirror. We keep our reading plan outline on the refrigerator where we see it multiple times a day while eating. We used 3 different color highlighters to annotate the following:
- Blue – Trevor completes assigned reading
- Pink – Natalie completes assigned reading
- Yellow – We discuss our reflection questions.
4. Reflect on the Reading:
It is easy to get caught up in the “check the box” mentality and immediately forget what you read. To better combat this, ask God to open your heart and reveal Himself through the reading before opening up the text each day.
Use the journey through the Bible to grow your relationship with God and with your accountability partner. Below are the discussion questions we walked through on a daily basis:
5. Leave A Legacy!
Can you think of a more personal gift than a Bible that has been read and annotated daily over an entire year? As you work through your plan, use a physical bible and annotate it as you go along. At the end of the year, gift the Bible to a loved one! Make a habit of doing this on a yearly basis and leave a legacy behind.
why wait? join us in 2021!
As we near completion of the goal of reading the whole Bible in 2020, we are without a doubt, stronger in our faith because our knowledge of God and His Character has grown in inexplicable ways. We love God more than ever after seeing His love portrayed on every page of the Bible. We are planning to read the entire Bible again in 2021 using the same 5-day/week plan, and we are especially excited to annotate physical Bibles this year which we plan to give to loved ones.
The ball is in your court now. Will you join us?! This is the year to prioritize God and get to know Him through His Word.
Thanks for reading and as always, please connect with us to share your thoughts!
