Personal daily Bible reading is often held up as one of the most critical disciplines of the Christian life — but what if it’s not?

I know that sounds a little crazy, but hear me out.

Literature & Literacy in History

We live in an era where we’re actually overloaded with information.  Not only are we surrounded by printed materials; we have digital texts readily at our fingertips.  But that wasn’t always the case.

The printing press wasn’t invented until the mid-1400s.  (A precursor to the printing press was invented a hundred or so years prior.)  Before that time, books had to be painstakingly hand-copied, which meant that most individuals and households did not own books.

Even after this invention came to be, it was a long while before literacy became widespread.  After all, what would have been the benefit of teaching everyone to read if they didn’t have access to written material?

When considering these historical facts in the context at hand, it should become readily obvious that, for thousands of years, Christians were not individually reading the Bible every day. 

The Word Matters

What I’m not saying here is that the Word is unimportant.  The Word of God is essential!  But if faithful believers over centuries were not reading it every day for themselves, they must have been getting their exposure to it in other ways, right?

The Psalmist talks about meditating on the Word.  You can’t meditate on what you don’t know!

For much of history, the primary exposure came through their congregational meetings.  (This is something to give serious thought to in our modern meetings.  Are our modern churches reading through large chunks of Scripture on a regular basis?  Or just sprinkling a few in here and there?)

After a while, as written materials became more widely available, but were still expensive or literacy not as widespread, family worship  — that is, the household reading together daily — became a significant input, as well.

And because these exposures were relatively sporadic, people treasured them.  They paid attention.  They learned and memorized, so they could meditate on various texts throughout the rest of the week.

What Does This Mean for Us?

My point here is not to encourage people to make excuses to avoid reading the Bible.  The fact is, the modern Western Church has a deplorable track record when it comes to biblical literacy, so as a whole we’re clearly doing something wrong.

We are so rich in Scripture, with our easy access to print and digital materials, that gratitude and wisdom dictate that we should make as liberal use of these resources as possible to steep ourselves in the Word of the God.

But I think that sometimes this sense of obligation to one specific way of focusing on Scripture can become a source of condemnation and discouragement to those in very difficult seasons of life.

When, for instance, you’re a sleep-deprived mama of premature twins who require around-the-clock care you need God.  You need His Word.  But the idea of sitting down by yourself to read every day might be overwhelming to even think about, let alone implement!

We need to allow ourselves to think outside the box a little and consider why Bible reading matters and whether there are other practices that can accomplish the same thing in addition to — or, yes, sometimes even instead of — sitting and reading individually.

Exposure to the Word

There are actually a number of different means by which we gain exposure to Scripture.

• personal Bible reading and study – Obviously, this is one means (or, rather, two means, since reading and study are really two different things).  I highly recommend making time for it (them) if you possibly can, even if it’s just five minutes a day to read or a single half-hour block of study in a week.  And many people have more time than they think.  If you regularly spend time watching television or browsing social media, you probably have time.
• church meetings – A good church will be exposing you to a solid chunk of Scripture during every weekly meeting.  You can continue to meditate on this same passage (or these same passages) throughout the week.  If your church is not exposing you to significant quantities of Scripture, you need to find a new church.
• family worship – If your family reads together on a regular basis, that’s reading you’re taking part in.
• Scripture music – Playing Scripture set to music as you go about your day is an excellent way to take in a lot of Scripture (albeit usually not in large chunks) when you aren’t able to take time out from your necessary tasks.
• Scripture in your environment – Having Scripture hung on (or adhered to) your walls, printed on your clothing, in your planner and/or journal, etc. may seem trivial, but you might be surprised by how impactful this can be.  My kids have memorized whole verses just by repetitively seeing them on our walls or the back of a book cover that’s sitting in a highly-trafficked place.

Like I said, I’m not aiming to encourage anyone to make excuses for avoiding something they can do and know they ought to.  Personal Bible reading and study can be very valuable (the Christian Living Bundle this week contains some amazing resources for making that happen).

But overvaluing how the “reading” is happening and undervaluing all these other routes of exposure can lead us to look at the mama who’s attending church every week, reading the Bible every night with her family, and listening to Scripture on her stereo all day most days, and conclude that she’s falling short as a Christian because she isn’t also setting aside a second time of day (in addition to the family worship time) to read the Bible for only herself.

We don’t need that kind of condemnation.  As Arabah Joy said in the webinar this week, these are graces, not a to-do list.

If you’re finding yourself stressed over an inability to carve out daily time to read on your own, ask yourself:

Are you hearing the Word?  Are you meditating on the Word?  Are you doing the Word?

If so, you’re probably doing okay, and as your season of life changes (e.g. as those preemies grow up!) you’ll probably find yourself with more options.