Reflection by pastor Shawn:
Try this: read your Bible faster.
Before we get to that, let’s back up a bit. We’ve been talking about the Bible at COGS this week. Several people had questions about *how* we should read the Bible—what’s the best way to actually read the Scriptures?
There’s not a best way; there are different ways. There’s also a way that we tend to do it. We tend to read the Bible in snippets. Small chunks. Short passages of about 5-15 verses or so. This is our normal way for some good reasons: this is the way we read it out loud during Sunday worship services. This is the typical length of the passages of Scripture most sermons are based on. This is the size we often use for small groups and Bible studies. And this is a good way to do it. But it does have some limitations.
One limitation is that it can make it harder to see the bigger context the passage is in. We should and often do try to take the context into consideration to some degree—“What was said before and after this?” is a good question. But when we read the Bible in small chunks, we often have to make an effort to mentally “reach out” to see how it fits in, and the bigger picture is harder to grasp.
Which leads to another limitation: when we read shorter passages, we tend not to read books of the Bible as a whole. But that’s something we should be doing more often.
So how might we do Bible reading differently? One way: read it faster. Let me explain.
First, try to carve out a longer period of time. Probably something like 30-45 minutes would be good for this “faster mode” reading.
Second, try not to get tripped up along the way. Don’t stop and dissect every word. If there are a few things you don’t understand completely, let them go and keep reading. In this mode, you’re looking for the big story, rather than trying to grasp every detail.
Third, look for themes and connections that reoccur as you read. What ideas or people or events keep coming up repeatedly?
So where’s a good place to start? In the New Testament, try the gospel of John (25% of the gospel of John is the same number of words as 3 average length news articles). In the Old Testament, start with 1 & 2 Samuel.
Try it!