There are many stories in the Bible. There are 66 books containing a total of 1,189 chapters. Reading the entire thing from start to finish is quite the feat. Since the Bible is the all-time best seller, you may have set a goal for yourself to read the Bible in its entirety. This can be quite a challenge. There are different ways to do it, and having some tips in the beginning can help make it more likely for you to accomplish your goal.
Set Your Goal
Maybe you want to read through the entire Bible in a year. Perhaps you aren't setting a time frame on it but would like to read it all the way through. Figure out what your goal is. If you have a specific time frame you want to read the Bible in, then knowing this ahead of time can help you get a plan ready.
Find a Plan
While you could take this on yourself and be successful, it's often easier to have a plan. There are many plans out there to choose from. These can be particularly helpful if you have a time limit on your goal. There are dozens of Bible plans available for reading through the Bible in a year as well as plans focusing on specific books of the Bible.
Bible Reading or Bible Study?
There's a difference between reading your Bible and studying your Bible. If you are religious or would like to learn more about the Christian religion, you may opt to spend a little extra time studying your Bible. In this case, you might want to focus on one book of the Bible at a time. You may choose a specific character you would like to study, or you may choose to focus on a certain time period. If you would rather focus on the former, here are some great Bible characters to start your study on:
Noah Moses David Esther Daniel Jesus Peter Paul
This list is only the beginning. There are hundreds of people in the Bible, and their stories can be quite interesting. We can also learn quite a bit from them. You may consider purchasing a book focusing on your area of study to reference along with your Bible.
Read From Two Parts at Once
There's no way around it: Some parts of the Bible are more interesting than others. Books like Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy don't have as many stories, as they focus more on laws of the time. While this may be interesting to some people, you may prefer to focus on character studies. Reading a chapter from one of these books at the same time as a section from another book of the Bible may help make your Bible reading more entertaining. Once again, there are Bible plans for this form of Bible reading so you can have an idea of what direction you should go.
Make It a Priority
For the first few weeks especially, you are going to have to make your Bible reading a priority. It takes several weeks to establish a habit, so it may be hard to remember to do it sometimes. Set a reminder on your phone or set a time aside each day to do it. It will probably only take a few minutes of your day, so you can read in the morning before work or after dinner before you go to bed.
Reading through the Bible is quite the goal. Plenty of people have done it, so it's far from impossible. However, it is something you need to commit to and make a habit. Additionally, you should have an idea of how you are going to read so you can develop or find some sort of plan.