Read the Entire Book

By: Jenifer Metzger

I am an avid reader. I love a good book. A clean, faith-based novel is my favorite. I remember the first time I read a "grown-up book." I was in the fifth grade and I had read and reread and again reread all of the Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley books and desperately wanted something different. My mom had Janette Oke's series, Love Comes Softly, so I picked up book one and was hooked. I've since read the series many times over and it's still my favorite.

Whether you, too, are an avid reader or not, you know how a book works. You don't pick up a novel and jump around, reading a page here and a page there, never completing the book in its entirety. That literally makes zero sense! You would never get to truly know the characters or plot and you would definitely miss out on important details.

It's the same with the Bible. When we just skip around reading a verse here or there and never read the Bible in its entirety, we miss out on all the richness God intended for us. Wo don't get to know the people of the Bible, nor do we truly get to know the heart of God.

Now, I am not saying you must read the Bible straight through from Genesis to Revelation every time. The truth is, reading the Bible that way is not how the events happened, it is not chronological. I love reading the Bible straight through, cover to cover. But I also enjoy reading it chronologically. And, I enjoy running to a verse God lays on my heart, or a comfort verse, or a passage my pastor preached on that I want to dive deeper into. So, no, I am not saying Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 -cover to cover- is the only way to go.

What I am saying, is that we need to read the entire Bible. Whether that be cover to cover, chronological, topical, or however you choose to do so, you need to read the whole Bible. Not reading the whole Bible can be a detriment to our spiritual journey. It can cause us to take passages out of context, it can cause us to miss an important lesson God has for us, it can cause us to mischaracterize God.

To become a woman of the Word, make sure you read the entire Book. 

Discussion:
1. Have you ever read the entire Bible?
2. Do you prefer reading cover to cover or chronological?

Introducing our 2024 Bible Reading Plan...

At Woman to Woman we offer a one year Bible reading plan. This is a free resource that you can print out and keep in your Bible or download to your phone. Monday through Saturday we read the Bible and on Sundays we have a Reflection Day.

Reflection Day is not a day to just skip reading. Instead, it is a day where you can look back over what you read throughout the week, pray over what you learned or what God spoke to you, spend extra time in prayer, work on Scripture memorization, and/or reflect on what your pastor preached about that day.

In 2024, we are going through both the Old and New Testaments simultaneously. Each day you will read 2-3 chapters in the Old Testament, then jump into the New Testament and read 1 chapter (there are only 260 chapters in the New Testament, so there will be a few days that do not have New Testament reading).

You can complete all of the reading in one sitting, read the Old Testament in the morning and the New Testament at bedtime, or whatever works for you. All that matters is that you are in the Word, remember, we committed to becoming women of the Word!

We would love to have you join us in 2024 as we read through the Bible together. To access the free download of the 2024 Bible Reading Plan, click HERE.

Over the next few weeks, I will be back on Wednesdays sharing encouragement and tips for getting into the Word. Join me!

from Woman to Woman
Umn ministry