and a light unto my path

Had the opportunity to teach a lesson on the importance of Bible reading yesterday for a men's leadership class. Thought a couple of practical tips would be useful highlighted here.

1. If you have not ever read through the entire Bible once, you really need to do so. At least once. Not just to say that you’ve done it. But because every letter and every word was placed in there for a reason, and it is important that you see the entirety and extent of what He has laid out for us.

2. If you’ve already read through it once, read through it again. You really should read through it in its entirety two or three times if not more. Every time you go through it, you will catch different things and learn different things. Ever watch a movie as a kid and you remember it being completely hysterical, but when you watch it again years later as an adult, you’re like, "Really? I found this funny?"

Words hit us differently at different phases in our life. I always thought John 11:35 was a cute verse, but when I read that verse a few days after my best friend was killed by a drunk driver in college, it wrecked me. The Word of God will hit you in different ways at different times in your life, so you can never, never read through it enough times.

3. If you’ve been reading through the entire Bible for the past several years, add variety:
- Try a chronological Bible
- Try a different translation (by this, I mean ESV. The NIV, The Message, The Living translation, and other loosy-goosy wordplay are strictly from the devil)
- Focus on different books (just NT, just prophets, just Psalms, etc.)
- Create your own reading schedule (MWF Psalm, OT/NT every day, OT in Jan/NT in Feb, etc.)

4. Read the Bible with your wife and children. Imagine that you were their physical trainer. Wouldn’t you want to know what exercises they were doing, and what they were eating? As their spiritual trainer you need to know what goes into them. Your job as the spiritual leader of your house is to shepherd the walks of your spouse and children. How can you do that if you don’t know what they’ve been digesting?

5. Finally, if you’ve already been reading the Bible faithfully every day, pick one day where you spend serious time digging into the Word. Do more than pick up your Bible and read it. Digest it. Take a look at commentaries and see what others are saying. Discuss a passage you read with your accountability group. Memorize the Word. There are lots of ways to deepen your time in the Word beyond simply reading it. Pick one day of the week and commit it to the Lord, that you would spend that time dedicated to really understanding Scripture.