Do you want to read through the Bible in a year? Or maybe you want to read the Bible daily, but you want to move through it more slowly.
Justin Taylor points out that it takes the average person less than 10 minutes a day to read the entire Bible in one year. He also reminds us that Bible reading is not merely one more thing to check off our to-do list. His article includes analyses of several Bible reading plans and is a good place to start: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2013/12/26/how-to-read-the-whole-bible-in-2014/
This post from Ligonier Ministries has a good round-up of 14 different Bible-reading plans: http://www.ligonier.org/blog/bible-reading-plans/
In this must-read article, Stephen Witmer discusses the pros and cons of Bible reading plans. One aspect he considers is the fragmented nature of reading 3-4 books of the Bible at the same time; I’ve always found that a bit frustrating. I’m considering following the plan he designed for his church, in which you read through the entire Bible one book at a time (plus Psalms or Proverbs each day) in two years rather than a single year: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2010/12/29/two-year-bible-reading-plan/
I have sometimes used Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s plan, in which you read the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms twice per year (about 4 chapters a day from different parts of the Bible). This site provides printables for M’Cheyne’s plan and Don Carson’s variation, which spreads out the same readings over two years: http://www.edginet.org/mcheyne/printables.html
If you prefer to use a Bible that’s already divided into daily readings rather than keeping track with a bookmark or other printable, here are two I’ve enjoyed using:
The Narrated Bible in Chronological Order
Ultimately, the plan we choose for reading through the Bible—at any pace—is not as important as simply doing the reading. Some years I’ve been very consistent; other years I’ve gotten woefully behind. Will you join me in making daily Bible reading a priority for 2014?
Great list of resources – thank you! I’ve been using the John MacArthur Daily Bible for years. It has commentary that I find so helpful in understanding difficult passages. It only comes in NKJV – which I find quite readable – but which puts some people off, I think. I may try something new this year after looking at all your links 🙂