It’s not surprising Christians feel they should read the Bible more. We believe it is the Word of God. It reveals the story of redemption. It contains wisdom from God that, pressed deep into our hearts, helps us to live in ways that bring glory to Him. We see Jesus in this book, and through these pages, we grow in our knowledge of the One who loved us and gave His life for us.

It’s the time of year when many Christians are preparing to start a new Bible reading plan. New Year’s resolutions come and go each year, giving us the opportunity to look back at what we committed to last year, and offering a fresh start for something new. Wanting to read the Bible more is a common Christian desire when looking ahead to the new year.

It’s not surprising Christians feel they should read the Bible more. We believe it is the Word of God. It reveals the story of redemption. It contains wisdom from God that, pressed deep into our hearts, helps us to live in ways that bring glory to Him. We see Jesus in this book, and through these pages, we grow in our knowledge of the One who loved us and gave His life for us.

Unfortunately, many Christians approach next year’s big commitments for Bible reading with a little trepidation, and perhaps even some guilt. This may be the third or fourth year that they’ve said they want to do a Bible reading plan, an ambitious one that takes them through the Bible in a year, or even a plan with lighter expectations. And yet they’ve found they lapse inevitably after a few weeks or months. “This year will be different,” they say, and they get ready to start a new reading plan. They look at the different options out there (some of which I’ve described before), and settle on one that is going to help them through the year.

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. We read a story, note a couple of interesting things, don’t see how it applies to our lives today, and then move on. By the time we near the end of the first books of the Bible, we’ve gone through extensive instructions on how to build the tabernacle, or how the sacrificial system is to be implemented, or a book of Numbers that is aptly titled. We read the daily portion of Scripture, put down our pencil or highlighter and wonder, “Why don’t I feel like my life is changing?”

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