Eight Tips for Reading the Bible in 2020 (PLUS… A Secret Extra Tip for Success!)

Several years ago I established the habit of reading through the Bible in a year. It is one of the greatest habits I’ve ever acquired. In 2018, my 16-year-old son and I read through the Bible together. In 2019, the other four family members joined in and we all read through the whole Bible together.

Have you read the whole Bible?

Why not commit to read the Bible in 2020?

In this post, I’d like to share some tips on reading the Bible more in 2020, especially for those of you who are interested in reading the whole Bible in a year’s time.

First, choose a plan. There are several plans out there which are good. We really like the Tabletalk magazine plan. It is calendar-based and takes you through an Old Testament reading and a New Testament reading, six days a week. This allows you a day for catch up, which is very helpful because even the most disciplined of us will have a few days each year where we just cannot make it work.

For those who are reading this after January 1st and need something with a slightly later start in the new year, join Major League Baseball pitcher Adam Wainwright in reading through the Bible chronologically in 2020, starting on January 12th. You can join him on his Bible reading journey HERE.

Second, pick a time and a place to do your daily Bible reading. For our family it is right after breakfast (time) in our living room (place). For a friend of mine it is at lunchtime (time) at his office desk (place). Few people succeed if they just “wing it” each day. Determine where and when you will do your Bible reading each day. As far as time required, you will need to set aside a twenty minute time block, although most days it will only take you about fifteen minutes.

Third, track your reading. One of the reasons why we like the Tabletalk reading plan is because you can print out a handy half-sheet list of all the readings with little check boxes beside each day (see photos below), applying the wisdom of what some are now calling the Jerry Seinfeld method of success, also known as “Don’t Break the Chain!” The bottom line is that the more consecutive days you check off, the more it motivates you to stay with it. Each morning when our family would complete the assigned reading, it felt great to check off the appropriate box.

Fourth, pray before and after you read. Start with a simple prayer like this, from the Psalmist… Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law. (Psalm 119.18)

After your readings are complete, pray about what you just read.

Out with Resolutions, In With Goals

As we near the end of January, I would ask you… how are you doing with those resolutions you made back on December 31st or January 1st?

Research tells me that you are probably not doing so well with them. In fact, according to researchers at the University of Scranton, only 8% of people are ultimately successful with their New Year’s resolutions. Furthermore, the average person makes the same resolution ten separate times without success. Then they give up.

How many times have you said, “I will never do that again!” only to do it again and again?

Good news! There is a better way.

It’s called GOALS.

Setting and pursuing goals is far more effective than making resolutions. Research says that you have a 42% greater chance of achieving your goals by this one simple action: WRITE THEM DOWN.

That’s right. There is something powerful about writing down goals.

A couple of years ago I was cleaning out some files and came across a “dream” goals sheet I had filled out when I was eighteen years old. It asked questions about long-range, lifetime goals in various areas of life. I had filled it out, filed it away, and then forgotten about it. I won’t share the details (they are private), but I was absolutely shocked by how much of those dreams had come true in that over quarter century time span, even some dreams that I had considered unrealistic. What is amazing to me is that I did not sit down to actually come up with a strategy to reach those dreams.

So what are some principles for setting and reaching goals?  With a hat tip to Michael Hyatt and the late Zig Ziglar (both have influenced me much on this subject of goals), here is a top ten list I came up with that can help you get started in setting goals:

1. Pray about your goals. Remember James 4.13-17… “If the Lord wills…”? You want your goals to be aligned with God’s will for your life.
2. Set an appropriate number of goals and pursue only a few goals simultaneously. A good rule of thumb is to set 7-10 goals per year but only be working on 2-3 of those goals at a time.
3. Be specific. It is not a good goal to “Get in shape.” A better goal would be: “Run a marathon.” That’s a specific goal that enables you to get in shape.
4. Set a due date. Using our previous example, you might say, “Run a marathon by October 15th.” If you are setting a habit goal (a goal of doing something everyday until it becomes a habit), Make sure you set your date at least 67 days out. The old saying that it takes 21 days to make a new habit is a complete myth. Research says it takes about 66 days to make a new habit.
5. Get an accountability partner. Ecclesiastes 4.9-10 says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.”
6. Develop an action plan. Break your goal down into manageable steps.
7. Get started. An experienced author once counseled an aspiring writer, “The hardest sentence of a book to write is the first one.” Stop dreaming and start pursuing. Procrastination is the enemy of progress.
8. Review your goals daily. There is an old saying, “Out of sight… out of mind.” If you do not keep your goals in front of you regularly, you will not stay focused. Come up with creative ways of keeping your goals in front of you… customized screen savers, notecards, bookmarks, etc.
9. Eliminate stinking thinking. Proverbs 23.7 says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” The number obstacle to achieving your goals is your own faulty thinking. Attitude determines your altitude. If you are believing lies about yourself or about God, it will limit your ability to press forward and accomplish your goals. So, identify what Michael Hyatt calls “limiting beliefs” in your life and replace them with “liberating truths.” I like to find a Scripture verse or passage that counteracts each of the limiting beliefs that have taken root in my thinking.
10. Don’t be afraid to fail and then restart. Don’t give up. Keep trying. In 2009 I set a goal to read 52 books in a year (1 per week). I failed miserably that year, only reading 11. The next year I set the same goal and only read 17. Year after year I set the same goal and year after year I fell short. But on my 8th attempt, in 2016, I finally succeeded and read 53 books that year (including the whole Bible).

BONUS: Plan for a reward for accomplishing your goal.

So, you failed with your resolutions? Take heart… sit down with a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. Talk to God about setting some goals… and go for it!

Want to Become a Reader? Here’s How…

It’s one thing to be literate… to have the skill to read. It’s another thing to be identified as a reader of books. Regrettably, most Americans don’t read much, if at all. According to the Pew Research Center:

Among all American adults, the average (mean) number of books read or listened to in the past year is 12 and the median (midpoint) number is 5–in other words, half of adults read more than 5 books and half read fewer. Neither number is significantly different from previous years.

Half of American adults read 5 books or less per year? That’s stunning. With average reading skills (250 words per minute), it would take just 6 hours to read one 200 page book. The average book in America is 232 pages, so let’s round that up, being conservative, to 6 1/2 hours per book. That would mean it would take about 32.5 hours to read five books. Hang with me here… just a little more math… there are about 5,782 awake hours per year (assuming 8 hours of sleep per day). Putting it all together, this means that the average American adult spends about 0.0056% of their waking hours reading books.

Let’s compare that to watching television. According to multiple sources, the average American adult watches over 5 hours of television per day. This roughly 32% of waking hours. And this isn’t even counting watching movies at the cinema or on DVD. Yikes!

I can understand why this the lifestyle of the average American adult is more about television than reading. We all want to “chill our” after a long day at work, and the idea of working your way through a book is not exactly the best way to chill out after working all day.

Neither do I want to suggest that watching TV is morally wrong or sinful. Depending on what you are watching, TV can land anywhere on the moral spectrum. However, one has to wonder if our lives would be more greatly enriched if we were to reduce that television input at least a little and pick up a book more often, especially if it is a good book. And please note, I’m not too naive to fail to recognize that the same that is said about television offerings representing all points on the moral spectrum also applies to books. There are fantastic, enriching, life-changing books and there are raunchy, trashy, morally bankrupt books and all manner in between. I want to move forward with this discussion under the assumption that we are talking about reading quality books.

Are You a Reader?

What about you? Can you identify yourself as a reader? I’m not asking if you are literate. I’m asking if you read books. Here are some probing questions: When was the last time you completed an entire book? Do you have a book, or books, that you are currently reading? How many books did you read last year?

If your answers to those questions leaves you disappointed with yourself as a reader, and if you want to do something about it, please keep reading.

I’m not going to lay out a number of books that you must read to be considered a legitimate “reader.” You need to decide that for yourself. We are all at different stations in life and being a “reader” for one person might mean reading six books a year (one per month) while being a “reader” for another person might mean reading many more.

If you happen to be someone who is disappointed with the amount you read, I want to extend some encouragement to you, and hopefully offer you a helping hand in becoming the reader you desire to be.

SMART, SMARTER, and SMARTEST Goals

It’s fairly well known that SMART Goals are:

• S -Specific
• M – Measurable
• A – Actionable
• R – Realistic
• T – Time-Bound

Michael Hyatt adds ‘ER’ to make them even smarter:

• E – Exciting
• R – Relevant

And, finally, yours truly offers this approach to make them the smartEST goals for your life:

• E – Exciting
• S – Significant
• T – Tied to God’s Glory