10 Reasons You Should Read Through The Bible In A Year

God’s Word has been given to the whole world, but the illumination of the Word is a gift for His children.

Listed below are just some of the benefits that anyone can experience by reading through the Bible in a year:

1. The whole counsel of God becomes available.

Instead of a thousand puzzle pieces in a box, I see the Bible as a mural of how God deals with people. The Bible is not intended to be shrouded in mystery.

2. God’s general will for our lives becomes clear.

The “who, where, when and how” of our lives will be different for each individual, but the revealed will of God— that is, His moral will (which is for all of us)—is clear in the Bible.

3. His mercy is highlighted in dramatic fashion.

I never realized how long suffering a love He had until I read large portions of the Bible at one time. I noticed how I had broken the laws of God and saw His mercy towards me. As a child of God, you see this and it gives birth to a worshipful heart.

4. Reading the Bible prevents “TRUTH DECAY” and protects against false teaching.

“Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11).

While I can offer no guarantee, our best defense is a strong foundation of the Bible. I’m now more able to recognize someone who is:

a) Giving speculative teachings.

b) Allegorizing unnecessarily

c) Reading personal doctrines and opinions into Scripture.

d) Borrowing concepts from outside sources and wrapping Scripture around them. (It could be totally out of context though it sure may sound good.)

5. When advising others, the track record increases for wise counsel.

When presented with the challenge of guiding people toward life in the Spirit, the Bible has much to draw from in order to help others in their journey.

6. Questions are answered

People have questions concerning doctrine, marriage, health, and other important issues. I have many questions myself. It is during that normal course of reading Scripture in context that answers jump off the page.

7. Connecting the books of the bible is made easier

One time I took months to finish a novel. I never could remember names or locations and kept forgetting what it was about when I picked it up infrequently. That will happen if you pick up the Bible infrequently. In the New Testament, references to the Old Testament are made by inference. If I have not been in the Old Testament recently, I will have a difficult time pulling up the example referred to in the New Testament.

8. Reading the Bible gives hope.

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Rom. 15:4).

9. Passages that were confusing begin to open up through other parts of the Bible.

Scripture interprets scripture.

10. The reader becomes more comfortable listening to Bible teachers.

As I sit in the congregation, the Bible stories and principles have become so familiar that I am not sitting in with a puzzled mind.