Tuesday, August 17, 2010

10 Chapters a Day

Have you ever gotten to the point where you want to read the Bible in a systematic way, but have fallen behind? Over the years, I have read the Bible through using a variety of systems. After using each system for a while, I find that I begin to lose interest.

Let me try to explain what I mean. If one begins in Genesis, reading straight through to Revelation, it takes forever to get to Jesus. One tends to bog down in the Old Testament. I love the book of Genesis, but I usually don't tell people to begin reading there. They'll get lost for certain through Leviticus and Numbers.

I have used a Chronological Bible, which is not the same thing as reading from Genesis to Revelation, but has some of the same problems, as it takes so long to get to Jesus.

I have also used a system where one reads a portion from the Old Testament (except for Psalms and Proverbs), a portion from Psalms, a portion from Proverbs, and a portion from the New Testament, every day, so that one will finish reading the entire Bible in a year.

How much must one read each day to finish reading the entire Bible in a year? About 3 chapters, more or less, per day.

Whoa, this post is titled 10 chapters a day! If one reads 10 chapters a day, one will read the Bible through quicker than one year--but it is SO EXCITING!

The drawback I mentioned to reading through one of the systems described above is that it takes too long to get to the good stuff. Last week I cam across a "10 chapter per day" system. I have been using it daily for the past week, and it has been exciting.

It was developed by Professor Grant Horner, who teaches at The Master's College in California. You can begin it at any time, and it just keeps coming at you. Basically, you start reading in 10 different sections of the Bible, reading one chapter in each of the sections, each day. The sections are as follows:
  • Gospels
  • Genesis - Deuteronomy
  • Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Hebrews
  • 1-2 Thessalonians, 1-2 Timoty, Titus, Philemon, James, 1-2 Peter, 1-2-3 John, Jude, Revelation
  • Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon
  • Psalms
  • Proverbs
  • Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 -2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther
  • Isaiah - Malachi
  • Acts
That way, you read a WIDE variety of Scripture every day, and you get the good stuff every day! At the end of the year, you should have read the gospels about 4 times, the Pentateuch about twice, the epistles 4 or 5 times, the books of Poetry (other than Psalms and Proverbs) nearly 6 times, the book of Psalms more than twice, the book of Proverbs nearly every single month, the books of OT History nearly twice, the OT Prophets nearly twice, and the book of Acts more than 12 times.

Does that sound exciting? It requires a little more reading time than the other systems mentioned above, but it is great! If you would like to see Professor Horner's own description of the system (PDF file), which includes a sheet with bookmarks that can be cut out to use in your Bible, click here.

If you decide to give this system a try, drop me a line to let me know how YOU like it.