At a normal, leisurely pace, it would take approximately 70 hours to read through the bible. But you know what, even if you double that number, because the Bible can be pretty difficult to get through!, it would still take us 140 hours to read through the Bible—the whole thing, Genesis through Revelation, even hitting things like Obadiah, Haggai, Amos, Jude. 140 Hours sounds like a long time, doesn't it?
Well check this out... in a given week, the AVERAGE American will spend ONE DAY (approximately 24 hours) in front of a TV. This includes News, movies, shows, games, etc. But it does not include a computer monitor... JUST THE TV! 24 Hours in one week. You can do the math if you want, but if we spent as much time reading the Bible as we did watching the TV screen, we could easily have read through the Bible, at a leisure pace in under a month and a half.
With ease. Wow...
So much TV... so little Scripture. Where are our hearts?
I am not proposing that we do this... I am, however, proposing something else quite radical. Check this out...
There are 1189 chapters in the Bible. If you divide that by the number of days in a year (365) you will get the number of chapters that you would have to read every day in order to finish the WHOLE BIBLE in one year. Do you think it's going to be a crazy-crazy amount that is just overwhelming!?
1189 ÷ 365 = 3.2575342...
That's it. If you were to read four chapters from the Bible every day... you would get through the Bible in under a year.
This is exactly what I am proposing. Start today... get through the Bible in under a year. If you are not already reading something for yourself from the Bible... then start today.
Deonna and I have already read Genesis 1–4. It took us under 20 minutes this morning, and we even talked a little about it.
Can you spare 20 minutes every day for a year, to read your Bible? Those might just be the most valuable 20 minutes of every day in 2009...
I would love for anyone who wants to, to join in on this journey. Start today... Genesis 1–4. Tomorrow... Genesis 5–8; and so on, and so on. This would give us some great topics for discussion when we meet up, and also, it will give us something to keep each other accountable. We could help each other through this journey, we could encourage and lift up one another... we can do it TOGETHER. As a a community... as disciples of Christ seeking to encounter the True God.
I'm certain that God will use this endeavor to teach us more about Himself... and to change anyone's life who accepts this challenge. There is no doubt, it will be a challenge. But the reward surpasses everything else... certainly anything else that could be obtained through a mere 20 minutes every day...
Who's in?...
"It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man." Ps 118:8 (the exact middle verse of the Bible)
"How blessed is the man who does not walk in the council of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the Law of the Lord, and in His Law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither, and in whatever he does, he prospers." Ps 1:1–3
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