As a pastor of a Baptist church, you might be thinking that I should not be writing this blog for the world to see. My job could be at risk.
However, I would like to explain. My wife Linda reads through the Bible every year. Every Year! She has a reading plan that she enjoys and puts it to use every year.
Only once in my life, was I successful in reading through the Bible in one calendar year. From Genesis through Revelation. I just don't like reading through the Bible. I cannot get comfortable with simply "reading" the text.
However, and this is a big however, I love studying the Bible. I love to dig into the passages and find the gems right below the surface. I enjoy "working" through a passage so that I can "rightly divide the Word of God."
I have a habit of studying the Bible about three to four hours each day. For a thirty-minute sermon, it takes me about four solid hours of study, writing, editing, putting together a PowerPoint, and refreshing my memory thirty minutes before I preach a sermon. I live for studying the Bible. That is why I use the term “Bible Studies for the Enthusiast” on my website, www.73twenty.com.
There you have it. I do not like "reading" the Bible. But I thoroughly enjoy studying the Word of God. The apostle Paul's words to his protege Timothy keep me grounded and on target.
2 Timothy 2:14 (KJV) Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. 15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
How about you? Do you enjoy reading the Bible? Do you enjoy studying the Bible? Let me know.
For those of you that have reading plans that you have really enjoyed, put them in the comments.