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Preparing Children to Read the Bible

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Though I haven’t yet read Joe Carter’s new book, The Life and Faith Field Guide for Parents, I’m intrigued by this excerpt published at the Gospel Coalition. Here is a taste:

Some missionaries spend years or even decades learning how to teach literacy to unreached people. Why? Primarily, to give those people the tools they need to read the Word of God for themselves. As Christian parents—missionaries to our own children—we want our kids to know how to read so they too can one day read the Bible for themselves. This mindset about teaching can lead to long-lasting benefits for your children. Instead of viewing the literacy process as the means to reach the goal of reading, think of it instead as the means by which your child reaches the goal of reading the Bible.

This may appear to be a trivial distinction. After all, children who learn to read will likely be able to read the Bible. While that is true, a profound shift occurs when we teach reading for the primary goal of reading Scripture. Whatever stage your child is at in literacy education—whether they’re an infant learning words for the first time or a high-school student learning vocabulary terms for the SAT—consider this to be your objective: to shape their reading so they can better read the [Bible].

Check it out!

Disclaimer: The Amazon link above is an affiliate link. If you click it and buy stuff, we’ll receive a small commission. Thank you for helping us better prepare our children to read the Bible.

5 Ways to Read More of the Bible

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J.A. Medders understands real life, and how the ideal setting for Bible reading rarely occurs. In his post “5 Ways to Read More of the Bible,” he mentions a few ways to capitalize on the clumpy nature of life.

Life is loaded. Add up the ingredients of a routine day: getting kids ready for school, packing lunches, getting ready for work, traffic, co-workers, projects, meetings, helping with homework, kids extracurricular activities, exercise, church functions, and more. And this recipe alone doesn’t make it difficult to regularly read the Bible.

These full days also get bits of eggshell in the batter. Days can spin out of our routine with stress at work, car problems, sick kids, a spouse traveling for work, or a rough night of sleep. Our days can be unpredictable, and that’s why our Bible intake often is too.

Medders holds himself to 2 rejections and 3 practices. If you already feel behind on your Bible reading plan, perhaps these suggestions might work for you as well.

  1. Reject needing the Instagrammable scenario
  2. Reject the checkbox
  3. Read on your phone
  4. Read without study speed bumps
  5. Read in community

This is great advice. Check it out!

New Opportunities for Old Practices

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open bible

Eduardo Braga (2017), public domain

We’re already a week into 2019, so you’ve probably had your fill of blog posts and articles about New Year’s resolutions. Even if you’ve been able to focus on habits instead of resolutions, one can only take so much.

For a Christian who likes a fresh start with their fresh calendar, most advice focuses on reading through the Bible in 12 months. Here at Knowable Word we love the Bible and we love to read the whole thing (even quickly!), but in this post we’ll move beyond reading plans, apps, and translations.

For me, forming resolutions brings up feelings of duty and drudgery. So I prefer to think of the opportunities that the new year brings, especially when it comes to spiritual practices.

3 Bible Opportunities for the New Year

If you’d like to engage more with the Bible in 2019, here are three ideas.

Study a Book of the Bible

The beginning of the year is a great time to join a small group Bible study or a new Sunday school class. But it’s also an opportunity to study the Bible on your own.

Reading the whole Bible in a year will change you in ways you might not be able to discern. But studying the Bible carefully might just rock your world. There’s nothing quite like learning the meaning of a portion of Scripture and taking the time to apply it to your life.

If you’ve never studied the Bible before, don’t worry. You can do this! You don’t need to be an expert to study the Bible. In fact, we’ve created this website just for you! Poke around and make yourself at home; we are here to help.

We have a summary of our Bible study method here, with more details and explanations here. If you’re just getting started, you might consider printing some of the worksheets on this page.

Read a Book of the Bible Intensely

Instead of aiming to read the whole Bible this year, why not focus on just one book each season? Choose one book of the Bible and read it as many times as you can in three months. You’ll be blown away by all that you discover.

While understanding the large story of the Bible is crucial for Christians, so is internalizing all of its teaching. Aside from studying the Bible, one way to get the Bible’s message into your heart and bones is to read and reread and reread it.

Of course, the length of the book will affect how many times you can read it in three months. But no matter the length, keep reading. Repeated readings of the Bible follow a predictable pattern, a pattern it’s good to know before you begin.

You probably won’t have any problems up front. For your first three or four readings of the book you’ll be engaged and interested. Then somewhere around reading number five you might start to feel bored. You’ll want to skim, to skimp, to assume you’ve gained all there is to gain. Press on, because the gold lies ahead! With readings number nine, ten, and beyond, you’ll see the text with new eyes. You will notice nuances and depth and tone that one or two readings could never reveal. Read with a pen and paper nearby, and prepare to learn from God himself.

Memorize a Book of the Bible

While reading and studying the Bible are important, there’s no way to get yourself closer to the Bible than to memorize it. Memorized Scripture can become the mental soundtrack of your life in 2019.

If you’ve never taken up this practice, here are a few things I’ve learned. Over a period of weeks and months, I can memorize an average of one verse every two days. If your pace is similar to mine, this means that memorizing entire books of the Bible is within your grasp this year! The book of Titus has 46 verses, meaning you could memorize it in 92 days (just three months!). Similarly, Philippians (104 verses), Colossians (95 verses), 2 Timothy (83 verses), and Philemon (25 verses) are all possibilities. You could even tackle the first eight (82 verses) or the first ten (120 verses) Psalms. Think of the opportunity!

Remember Jesus in Your Resolutions

As we think and plan about making more of the Bible in 2019, we must remember the gospel. We must remember Jesus.

Jesus loves, knows, and has obeyed the words of the Bible perfectly. And because he obeyed for us, we can offer our efforts to read, study, and memorize the Bible to God as acts of worship. We’re not resolving to change our behavior in order to grab God’s attention and make him love us. Rather, because he loves us we can look to the Bible and learn what it means to live as a child of God.

Reminder: 2019 Bible Reading Challenge

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Here is a friendly reminder that, if you’d like a full 90 days to read the Bible for this year’s drawing, you need to begin by January 1. Your deadline to finish is 90 days after your start date.

For more information on the Bible reading challenge, see the announcement.

When you finish, simply complete this Google Form to enter the drawing for a complete set of ESV New Testament Scripture Journals.

How Bible Reading Will Change Your Life

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Trevin Wax makes an important point in his article “Routine Bible Reading Can Change Your Life.” Speaking of the perennial guilt many people feel when they consider trying once again to pursue a plan of regular Bible reading:

“Why do so many Christians start with a strong commitment and yet lose their way when reading the Bible? One reason may be that we have too high of an expectation of what we will feel every day when we read. We know this is God’s Word and that He speaks to us through this Book, and yet so many times, when we’re reading the assigned portion of Scripture for the day, it all feels so, well, ordinary…”

“I sympathize with Christians who feel this way. We’re right to approach the Bible with anticipation, to expect to hear from God in a powerful and personal way. But the way the Bible does its work on our hearts is often not through the lightning bolt, but through the gentle and quiet rhythms of daily submission, of opening up our lives before this open Book and asking God to change us. Change doesn’t always happen overnight. Growth doesn’t happen in an instant. Instead, it happens over time, as we eat and drink and exercise. The same is true of Scripture reading.”

He goes on to explain why these things are so. Check it out!

Reading the Bible for the Ten Thousandth Time

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bible glasses

Lilian Dibbern (2018), public domain

We’re good at learning our surroundings, aren’t we? After living in one place for many years, we know every last detail. We know which noises are normal and which drips and knocks require a phone call. We know the cold spots of each room, the number of stairs between floors, and which floorboards squeak the loudest. If necessary, we could find our bed in the deepest darkness, because we know our place. It’s home.

For some people, this familiarity is comforting. They like the warmth and security that comes from knowing a place inside and out. But for others, the comfort makes them uneasy. It seems boring and dry, like a mouth full of uncooked oats. They start to look for something new.

Some might think of the Bible as predictable and stuffy, especially those who have been reading it for years. They know every beat of every story. There are no more surprises; the excitement is gone.

By instinct we know that first-time readers of the Bible need guidance. But long-time readers need help too. In this article we’ll explore some of the ways to combat boredom and lethargy for experienced Bible readers.

Five Ways to Fight Bible Weariness

There are many ways to guard against the boredom that can come with age and familiarity. Here are five of the best.

Remember why you’re reading. The Bible is not boring because it has a grand, explosive, eternal purpose. We read the Bible in order to know the God of the universe! We wouldn’t know him, or know how to approach him, if he didn’t tell us. And because God is infinite, we cannot exhaust our understanding of him. So, while you might know all the stories in the Bible, you can always know and worship the God behind those stories better. And here’s a glorious follow-up: This is exactly what God wants!

Adjust your routine. There are lots of different ways to take in the Bible. If you’ve been reading a lot, try listening. Read through the Bible as quickly as you can. Or take six months, read one book as many times as possible, and let it sink into your bones. Study the Bible, memorize it, sing it. A different translation or a different physical Bible might offer the fresh perspective you need.

Teach the Bible. Most Bible teachers will tell you they learn far more during their teaching than any of their students. Most churches and ministries often need Sunday school teachers, Bible study leaders, and volunteers at the local nursing home. Don’t shy away from children’s ministries either—you really have to know and believe the Bible to explain it to kids! If your Bible intake is not just for yourself, you may find it more challenging, comforting, and life-giving.

Apply the Bible. Though the Bible’s text and truths don’t change, we do. This means that the same accurate interpretation of a passage at age 25 has massively different implications when we’re 55. Application is the most difficult step of Bible study, so we often skip it, but application is precisely where we are forced to trust in God. Our faith grows the most when we take steps of obedience and witness God supporting our feet. To fight disinterest in the Bible, push your Bible study from observation and interpretation all the way to application.

Share the gospel. It’s tempting to think the Bible is dusty and anemic when we never witness the power of God through its words. In addition to applying the Bible to ourselves, we can see this power as we tell others about Jesus. The Holy Spirit most often uses the words of the Bible to awaken the dead and grant faith in Christ, and we can be a part of this! If you want to see just how powerful the Bible is, pray for opportunities to talk to others about Jesus, and then rejoice and obey when those opportunities arise. (God loves to answer this prayer!)

Ask and You Shall Receive

When we feel fatigue with the Bible, the problem is not with the book. The problem is with us.

But remember—God is a compassionate father who loves his children. At the bottom of every strategy given above is this encouragement: Talk honestly with God about your struggles. Confess your sin, your apathy, your lack of love. Ask him to be merciful, to change you from the inside out.

Don’t let your boredom with the Bible lead you away from God. Take it to him; he already knows and is eager and able to help.

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Announcing our 2019 90-Day Bible Reading Challenge

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We’re giving away a copy of the ESV Scripture Journal: New Testament Set and a one-volume reader’s Bible. To win one of these prizes, you simply have to prove you’d know what to do with it.

If you’ve been with us for the last few years, you might be caught unawares by this post. Here I come—like a thief in the night, like a landowner returning to check on his unprepared stewards, like a bridegroom catching those virgins with insufficient oil, like the lightning that flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other—to announce this year’s Bible reading challenge earlier than you anticipated.

Have no fear. I do this not to leave you behind but to bring glad tidings of great joy. I do it because many have spoken, and we have listened.

The last few years, we issued a 90-day Bible-reading challenge that had to begin on January 1 and end by March 31. But many folks have told us they would like to be able to get started over the holidays. While many are eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, or chasing a spirit of stupor, we hear that you—the readers of this blog, the champions of the covenant, the heroes who shine like stars in the midst of a present evil age—would prefer to redeem the time when you already find yourself away from your usual responsibilities.

And so we grant your request. This year’s Bible reading challenge may commence immediately. In fact, perhaps it already commenced for you, and you’re just now realizing it.

Here are the rules:

  1. You must have a United States mailing address to win one of the stated prizes. Residents of other countries will receive a $30 (US) Amazon gift card via email.
  2. You must read (not scan or skim) all 66 books of the Protestant Bible. You may choose the translation and reading plan (canonical, chronological, etc.). You don’t have to stop and meditate on every detail, but we’re trusting you to be honest about reading and not skimming. Listening to an unabridged audio Bible is acceptable. You may also use any combination of audio and visual reading, as long as you’ve read or listened to the entire Bible within the allotted time period.
  3. You must read the entire Bible within a 90-day period.
  4. That 90-day period must end by March 31, 2019. If you’d like to understand why we recommend such fast-paced reading, see our Bible reading plan for readers.
  5. To enter the drawing, you must fill out the survey below, letting us know the dates you read and what you thought of the speed-reading process. Your thoughts do not have to be glowing, but they should be honest; you’ll still be entered into the drawing if you didn’t enjoy your speed-read.
  6. In the first week of April 2019, we will randomly select 2 winners from those who have submitted the form. We will email the winners to get their shipping addresses.
  7. The first prize winner (if US) will get their choice of the ESV Scripture Journal: New Testament Set or a one-volume reader’s Bible in the translation of their choice. (Reviews: ESV, CSB, NIV.) The second prize winner (if US) will get whichever option the first prize winner didn’t choose. Any winner outside the US will receive a $30 Amazon gift card via email.
  8. Unfortunately, missionaries with DiscipleMakers are not eligible to win the drawing.

We will occasionally post links to the submission form on the blog between now and March 31. But you might also want to bookmark this page for easy access when you’re ready to submit your entry.

If you’d like a checklist to help you stay on pace, here are three. I won’t bother to update the dates, as I don’t know which day you plan to start.

  1. Canonical Order
  2. Chronological Order
  3. NIV Sola Scriptura Order

You may now begin any time, and may this be the ride of your life.

A Time to Read, and a Time to Stop Reading

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Everything on this site is here to help ordinary people learn to study the Bible. But from time to time, for the sake of balance, it is appropriate for us to remind you that there are extreme or extraordinary times when reading or studying the Bible is not the most important thing to do. In fact, there are times when doing it could be harmful or counterproductive.

David Murray, with help from puritan Richard Baxter, highlights one of those exceptional times: depression.

One of the strangest steps of faith I’ve ever taken as a pastor was telling a depressed Christian to stop reading the Bible. This Christian was in a terrible dark hole of depression and was tormenting herself every day by spending long periods ransacking the Scriptures for a verse that would cure her depression. She was frantic and desperate in her search and every day her “failure” only deepened her depression as she concluded that she must have been abandoned by God. It also left her mentally and even physically exhausted. Bible reading seemed to be harming rather than helping her.

I felt that her mind needed a rest and that she would never recover unless she stopped this daily self-torture. That’s when I said that she should stop reading the Bible for a short time to let her mind rest and to rebuild her emotional reserves. Then she would hopefully be able to read the Bible again with profit.

Murray goes on to quote Richard Baxter who counsels those with “melancholy” to refrain from “fixed, long, and deep meditations that will only hurt you” so that “you may later do what you cannot do now.”

I’m reminded of Ecclesiastes 3:1-15, where we’re told that life as God’s creatures in a fallen world means there is a time for every matter under heaven. God has made this to be so, that we cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. There is, in fact, a time to stop reading the Bible. Please consider Murray’s and Baxter’s helpful insights.

Check it out!

How to Fight Boredom With the Bible

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Jon Bloom believes the Bible is anything but boring. And he wants to help you understand what a remarkable book it is that you can hold in your hands. This book is unequaled, audacious, and unrivaled.

Are we bored with it? Oh, boredom! That plague of our finite, fallen, self-oriented flesh that so easily loses appreciation for the most precious treasures simply when they become familiar! Forgive us, Father, and hasten the day when we lose our amazing capacity for boredom and gain an amazing capacity for sustained amazement!

Check it out!

See Your Bible Reading Go from Chore to Delight

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Steve Midgley ask a great question at the blog for the Christian Counseling and Education Foundation: Is reading the Bible a chore or a delight?  The difference, he suggests, depends on how connected you feel with the characters. Or more specifically, the Character.

For the Bible is really a book about one person: God. He is the hero on every page. How much do we really care about him? So much of the time we read the Bible as if it were all about us. How can I find some comfort? How can I get a little guidance? How can I be spiritually strong? We come to the Bible as if it were a self-help manual, as if its prime purpose were to help us fix our problems. But it isn’t.

The Bible’s prime purpose is to bring glory to God. It does that by declaring his excellence and establishing his kingdom and, finally and wonderfully, by bringing all things together under one Head, even Christ (Eph 1:10). As long as we insist on reading the Bible as if it were all about us, we will not only miss the point, we will find it dull because we won’t be interested in the character that it is describing—God himself.

Check it out!