Robert Lowery

In a recent posting, I shared with you that I attempt to read through the New Testament once a month and the Old Testament as least twice a year. Loretta, a good friend, wrote me and asked me for more information. Why do I do it? How do I do it? When do I do it? Where do I do it? Let me offer some brief reflections . . .

• Why? I do it not only because God wants me to do it, but I do it for my sake a follower of Jesus and for the sake of those I teach. . . . When I fill my heart and mind with Scripture, I am drawn closer to God and to his people . . . I am able to respond to life’s situations more appropriately . . . I am of the conviction that all of us must get more of God’s word into our hearts and minds because of the toxic culture we live in . . .
• How? I read from a variety of translations, but usually I read the NIV six to eight months of the year and then the remaining months I read from a variety of translations–NASB, ESV, NLT, NRSV, etc.) . . . I buy a paperback of the NIV at the beginning of every year and mark it up quite thoroughly, underlining (at times following a code–blue for God, Christ and the Holy Spirit, black for the beautiful indicatives found in Scripture, red for the imperatives, etc.), drawing happy faces by sections, unhappy faces, puzzled faces, angry faces (Yes, sometimes I don’t like what God says!) . . . I am captivated by the metaphors the biblical authors use . . . I write in the margins of my Bible short sentences summing up my thoughts, etc. I read the Bible not only as sacred literature but as literature, paying close attention to the plot, characters, settings, the role of the narrator/author (I have been deeply influenced by Leland Ryken’s How to Read the Bible as Literature and recommend that you read the work not once but several times so that his principles get into your reading DNA) . . . I write down questions that I want to pursue in a more detailed way . . .
• When and where? I read major sections early in the morning and late in the evening, and yet if I don’t get through the NT in a month, I don’t feel guilty . . . I read when I am alone so I will not be distracted . . .
• How? Revisited I seldom read in canonical order but often in the order in which I think the writings were produced . . . I often group writers (Luke-Acts, Paul’s letters, the writings of John) . . . I sometimes group according to the author’s situation (the prison epistles by Paul) . . .
• Why? Revisited I strongly believe that the more we have what is essentially Christian in our lives then we will be journeying well on the kind of person God wants us to be . . . And one way of having more of what is essentially Christian is to have more of God’s Word in our hearts and minds.

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Related posts:

1. Reflections on my Bible Reading Habits