Bible Reading Tip #00001: Purpose

A little while back, everyone went nuts over the book The Hunger Games. You may have read it (I confess – I did). Why do we read? There are really very few basic reasons:

1. Instruction
2. Curiosity
3. Education
4. Pleasure
5. Escape

Of course, there are other reasons, but many of them can be sub-categorized under the five motives listed here.

We read all kinds of stuff: books, letters, news articles, menus, license agreements… oh well – four out of five ain’t bad. Anyway, you get the idea. We have a purpose for reading all of those things, but the truth is, many of us don’t pick up the Bible with purpose. Rather, we approach it kind of like a Christian zombie… like something we are instinctually drawn to without any brain activity involved.

Think about this: Have you ever decided that you wanted to start reading your Bible, but you didn’t know where to start? That’s because you didn’t have direction, and you didn’t have direction because you didn’t approach it with purpose. When you pick up a menu, you are looking for something to eat. Sometimes you are more specific; you are looking for something meaty and cheap… if you are a man. So you direct your eyes toward the meat entrees under $7.50. Purpose and direction go hand-in-hand.

The truth is that many people simply feel obligated to read the Bible, and just wander mindlessly into it. Well, obligation is good. The only reason is has a negative connotation is because folks often feel lost when it comes to getting started. Some even resort to the old tactic of covering their eyes and opening the Book at random to find a starting place. Now I’m not saying God doesn’t show you things that way, but you are going to end up reading a whole lot of Psalms.

Now, pay close attention to this part. It is perfectly okay to approach reading the Bible like you would any other piece of literature. That doesn’t make the Bible less holy. On the contrary, it means you should have that much more purpose for picking it up and reading it. Know why you plan to read the Bible before you grab it. Is it for instruction, curiosity, education, pleasure, or escape? Believe it or not, all of those are legitimate reasons to read the Bible – if you don’t believe me, get your Bible out and prove it.

Real life example of purpose:

I am currently reading Isaiah. My reason for reading Isaiah is that I want to be more familiar with the prophets. I plan to read the Major Prophets first, then the Minor Prophets. So my main reasons would be instruction, curiosity, and pleasure.

Get you some purpose:

Don’t just pick up the Bible, read a handful of random verses, and call that reading the Bible – you wouldn’t do that with any other book. Look at that list of five reasons above, ponder it, and pray. Think about where you are, what you know, what you don’t know, what you are curious about, what interests you, and so on. Which one of those five reasons strikes a chord with what your soul needs? Why? You’re well on your way to purpose!

Pick a Book and start reading:

Purpose is one thing, but you ain’t going to live forever. If you have trouble making decisions, remember – this is the Bible… you can’t go wrong. I knew I wanted to be more familiar with certain prophecies, so I decided to start with Isaiah. Pick a book a read it. And yes… Read the whole book. Read big chunks just like you would with any other book until you finish. Don’t you go one-verse-at-a-timing now, or it will take you 65 years to read the whole Bible.

One book at a time:

“I’m going to read the whole Bible…” Yeah, and you’ll wash out in Leviticus if you're not careful. Of course, reading the entire Bible is the ultimate goal, but let’s be honest: We are a self-absorbed, easily distracted culture that is severely impaired when it comes to self-discipline. Don't set the bar too high. It's a lot easier to follow through with reading separate books repeatedly than it is to read the entire Bible over the course of a year or longer. Commit to one book at a time, and I mean commit dadgummit! How’s this for a commitment – I will not put gas in the car again until I finish reading Deuteronomy!

Try it out, let me know how things are working out for you.