My Bible Journey
By Gabriel García V.
Reading through the Bible in a year, fast paced, has given rise to some debate. Those who are not in favor of this method say that in doing so, you miss a lot of nuances, overlook important points, don’t have time to reflect on or digest properly what you have read, etc. These are legitimate observations, yet I tried reading through the Bible in a year for myself and came to some surprising conclusions.
My sister and her friend sent me a chronological Bible to be read in a year. At first, I wasn’t too enthusiastic about it because of the reasons stated above. But then, thinking of the trouble they had gone through to send it to me, the Lord nudged me and I accepted the challenge.
It was an arduous project for sure. Because of the voluminous amount of text that I needed to cover daily, there wasn’t much time to ponder and meditate on what I’d read, compare verses, and write notes as I normally do. The Holy Spirit can teach us all things and guide us in understanding the truth (John 14:26; 16:13). God’s Word is powerful whether read quickly or slowly and purposefully.
By reading straight through the Bible in a year I have discovered other aspects that are also valuable. It was my constant companion throughout my long hospital stay and gave me a concrete daily challenge. There is also something to be said about catching the overall picture. Reading the Bible without pause or interruption can help give you a general overview to discover important principles you might not catch with a slow reading.
As I was speed-reading the Epistles, for example, I realized something that I hadn’t caught before, and that is the total importance Paul gives to Christ. Everything in his letters is centered around Christ. It’s all about Jesus. He is preeminent. To Paul, everything else appears to be trivial, worthless, or unimportant by comparison. He is totally sold out on Christ. Jewish traditions, cultural differences—they are all inconsequential. Jesus is principal and foremost in Paul’s writings. He is crazy about Jesus, really. In epistle after epistle, he goes on and on raving about Jesus. For him, nothing else really matters. As he expressed to the Corinthians:
“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
The list of verses on Christ being at the center of everything is miles long, but here’s a sampling of a few of the verses that show the preeminence of Christ:
“For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11).
“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:19–20).
“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17–19).
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
I had a similar feeling reading over the major and minor prophets. As I was reading quickly, I got an overall picture of their message, and so many verses stood out to me, which are very applicable to today’s world.
Recently I heard the famous New Testament scholar N. T. Wright express a parallel thought. When asked what he thought about fast Bible reading, he said there is nothing wrong about it. It has its place. There is a time for every purpose under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Whether you choose to read quickly or slowly, the important thing is to consistently read and study the Bible. It is God’s love letter to each of us.
