Reading through the Bible in one year in 2019? Pastors weigh in

[JD Miller]

I had a conversation about this with a young Christian earlier this week. He had tried one of those read through in a year plan and had gotten behind and given up. I encouraged him to forget about getting through in a year and instead trying to establish the habit of being in the word every day- even if just for a few verses. I also told him that it was okay if he reread what he had read the day before. I then told him that if he decided to read through it in a year some day, that would be fine, but that there is no Biblical requirement to do so and I would rather he just read it than to set a specific goal that would end up making what should be a blessed time, a discouragement.

I wanted to add to this discussion. Over at P&D on New Years Day I posted links to several Bible reading plans. Three of them are published by the Navigators, from their Discipleship Journal. One of them is called the 5x5x5, which is a plan to read five days in the week and make it through the New Testament in one year. This is much easier than reading the whole Bible of course. For those who haven’t been able to establish a habit, this is a good way to start. All of the Navigator plans include a “flex day” - at least one day a week for catching up. I added that to my own chronological schedule. I think the objective is the habit, not the exact accomplishment of through the Bible in a year.

I appreciate what others have said here. We need to encourage our people to just work at getting in the habit of Bible reading. The Lord will do the rest.