Many Christians start off with the intention of reading the Bible all the way through. Then, somewhere in the middle of the book of Leviticus, their Bible reading comes to a grinding halt. For many years, I was one such Christian. I had read bits and pieces of the Bible many times, but had never actually read the Bible from cover to cover.
Then, one day, I came across an article on the Internet on speed reading the Bible. I had never thought of reading the Bible fast. All of the Bible reading plans I had looked at took a year or longer — sometimes as much as three years — to read through the Bible.
The article I read was written by a man named Philip Green who had mastered the art of speed reading the Bible. The article I read covered 28 years of his speedy Bible reading habits.
To give you an idea of what I mean by speed reading the Bible, let me share with you the schedule that Mr. Green kept:
For 5 years, he read through the Bible every 60 days, or 6 times a year. That would total reading the Bible through 30 times in 5 years.
Then, for the 6th through the 10th year, he read his Bible through every 40 days, or 9 times a year. Thus, in those 5 years, he read the Bible through 45 times.
His Bible speed reading habits continued until by the 28th year, he was able to read through the Bible every 3 days, or 121 times in a year!
Now, I won’t bore you by listing how many times he read the Bible each year, but I would like to share with you the total of times he read the Bible in 28 years. Are you ready? He read the Bible a total of 584 times in 28 years! Can you imagine how well this guy must have known the Bible?
Honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to match this guy’s enthusiasm and discipline, but he did inspire me to try my hand at speed reading the Bible, and I successfully read through the Bible in 56 days. That was actually the first time I had ever read through the entire Bible from cover to cover in spite of the fact that I had been a Christian for many years. Not only did this give me a sense of accomplishment, but it also helped me to see the Bible in a totally different light.
Here are some advantages to speed reading the Bible:
1. You make quick progress which encourages you to keep going. Before I knew it, I was already half way through the Bible, which encouraged me to keep going. The quick progress I made gave me the motivation to keep going and gave me a strong sense that I could actually successfully read the Bible through.
2. I was able to get through the parts of the Bible that usually bog me down without any problem. I’ll admit that although there are wonderful gems in books of the Bible such as Ezekiel, overall, it is a tough book. If I’m reading only a few chapters a day, I may give up before I make it through a long, hard book. With speed reading the Bible, I get through even those tough books in just a few days. That I can handle!
3. I saw things in the Bible in a totally different light. Speed reading the Bible helped me to see common threads and themes in a way I had never noticed before. I understood the Bible in a fresh new way because I could see the big picture in a much more vivid way as I sped read through the Bible.
If you think you might like to speed read the Bible, here are some things to keep in mind.
First, set a goal. How quickly do you want to read through the Bible? With this method, I would suggest taking no longer than 90 days to read through the Bible.
Next, divide the number of pages in your Bible by the number of days you chose in you goal setting. For instance, my Bible has 1095 pages, so if I want to read through the Bible in 60 days, I have to read approximately 18 pages per day to read through the Bible in 60 days.
Then, make a schedule for reading the Bible. I used a simple Word document to list the date and which pages I would read each day. One advantage of making a schedule is that you don’t have to figure out each day which pages of the Bible to read. Also, when I made the schedule, I noticed that my last few days I would be at a women’s retreat, and I knew I would likely have a hard time reading that many pages in the Bible while there, so I chose to pick up the pace a little so I could finish reading the Bible prior to the retreat. I wouldn’t have realized that conflict if I hadn’t made a Bible reading schedule ahead of time.
Finally, I sped read the Bible with a pencil in hand, so I could make a quick checkmark by verses that stood out to me as I read. Then, when I finished my reading for the day, I chose one verse that I marked to write a few sentences about. That simple practice gave me a single focus each day as I sped read the Bible and helped to make the experience more meaningful.
I hope that you’ll try speed reading the Bible at least once. It’s an experience I would highly recommend!
