How To Regularly Study The Bible, Even When You’re Really Busy
5 Tips To Make Bible Reading A Priority Again
We will always give time to the things we love most.
People love their kids, college football, and teeing up on the golf course; their calendar reflects those values. While many people would say they equally love the Bible, that is often not reflected in the time spent reading it.
The American Bible Society survey of 2017 revealed that most Americans want to read the Bible but are too busy. We are too busy taking care of kids, investing in our marriages, being good friends, working outside (or inside) the home, keeping our houses clean, meal planning, meal prepping, working out, volunteering, serving our neighbors, etc.
The fact is that you’re not too busy; your priorities are just other places.
“You don’t know me” is the response I often get when I tell people that. I get it. But we need to learn the difference between being busy and feeling busy. There is likely room in your day to add something that matters to you. So, if you claim the Bible matters to you, let’s talk about how you can re-establish it as a priority.
There are ways for you to regularly read and study the Bible, even when you’re really busy. Here are five.
1. Keep your Bible out in the open.
It is likely out of mind if your Bible is out of sight.
We pack our Christmas decorations at the beginning of the year because we no longer use them regularly, but the TV remote will always be within reach. Why? Because one is seasonal and the other is daily.
If you’re a seasonal reader, you will tuck your Bible away whenever you need it, but if you’re a daily reader, it will always be within reach. I read 50 books last year simply by carrying the book I was reading everywhere I went. I read because I made reading convenient, and I’m beginning to bring that same principle to my Bible reading. Convenience will drive completion. If you want to read your Bible regularly, make it convenient.
Keep your Bible where you can see it regularly so that you will read it regularly.
2. As your kids get older, invite them into your reading time.
Kids might make you busy, but they can also keep you company.
Instead of seeking time to get away from the chaos to read your Bible, invite your kids into that space to read and discover with you. If your kids witness anything from you, it should be you spending quality time in God’s words.
For me, this meant lugging all of their books into the living room and modeling for them what it looks like to spend time reading my Bible. Often, I would read them a story from their Jesus Storybook Bible and have them tell the story back in their own words. You will be surprised by how much you can learn from your kid’s interpretation of the biblical story.
If you want your kids to grow up valuing the Bible, you must model it for them.
3. Wake up and read it first thing.
Your morning routine establishes the type of day you will have, and too many of us feel frantic, overwhelmed, and rushed mere hours after waking up.
It is your responsibility to begin your day in the best way possible. If you choose social media over God’s word every morning, you can’t be surprised when you feel anxious and worried for the remainder of the day.
The little black mirror we carry in our front pocket is a portal into all the distractions, terror, and overwhelm the world could throw at us. Your phone is like a mosquito that takes something from you and injects you with its poison, leaving you scratching all day. Make the choice, even for a week, to choose something different.
Lamentations 3:22-23, The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.
4. Carry scriptures with you throughout the day.
Imagine carrying with you a source of wisdom and clarity everywhere you go.
If we genuinely believe there is power in God’s word to guide us through life, then carrying its words with us throughout the day is one of the wisest decisions we could make.
The power of God's word lies in the truth it proclaims. My wisdom is often waning; I feel incredibly confident about a decision for about 40 minutes, and then I begin sweating with dread and indecision. When I carry God’s truth with me throughout the day (be it in a memorized verse or a notecard in my front pocket), I can extinguish the fire of fear that burns in my mind. Carry God in your pocket. He will quickly fall to the background if his word is not constantly pulled to the front of your mind.
When you feel insecure, overwhelmed, or alone, it’s important to remember to whom you belong. Carry that truth with you every day.
5. Keep yourself accountable.
Everything is better when we share it with a friend.
I love watching Oklahoma City Thunder games. But do you know what I love even more? Watching Oklahoma City Thunder games with other Oklahoma City Thunder fans. Comradery and accountability go hand-in-hand.
Accountability is key to setting goals. Most simply, accountability is the willingness to be seen as you set your goal and as you go about trying to achieve it.
When a crew runs whitewater rapids in canoes, the crew will stop to ‘scout’ particularly challenging rapids. Two partners paddling a canoe together will talk through their plan from a vantage point on the shore where the water flow can be seen with greater perspective. The route line they trace through the rapid becomes a goal they share. The paddler in each position has a unique role in propelling the canoe, so although both paddlers are aiming for the same course, the skills that they are practicing may be different.
Partners accountable to each other take ownership of what they did to achieve the desired line or what they may have done to set the boat off course. If you don’t want to drift in your Bible reading, find a partner with a shared goal and go about it together.