The most popular versions of the Bible in the United States (and perhaps the world) are the King James Version, and the New International Version (NIV). However, are those the best bible versions?

I was listening to Woodrow Kroll of Back to the Bible on the way to work this morning and he was asked what he thought was the “best” version of the Bible. I thought, “This guy has taught the Bible for over 40 years. I can’t wait to hear what he says.”

Mr. Kroll simply suggested that the best version of the Bible is the one that we read.

Although that probably wasn’t the answer that you or I were looking for, Mr. Kroll was not trying to be clever in his response.

The average American owns three Bibles (would appreciate our brothers and sisters from around the world letting us know how it is in their country) We have Christian TV and Radio, and the word all over the Internet.

However, mankind as a whole has not necessarily “moved up” in our walk with Christ. Since we know that

1. God is always good
2. God’s word is always true

that only leaves one possibility.

We are not reading the word

It does not really matter which version we are reading, so long as it isn’t the Mormon or Jehovah’s Witness version (stay away from those people at all costs).

The important thing is that we get in God’s word consistently - daily, if we can.

Mr. Kroll suggested that we tithe our time. We have 1440 minutes in a day. Of course, taking 10% of that - 144 minutes may be a bit impractical for most - doable, but impractical. We have jobs, children, and “American Idol”. For the International readers, that is a popular TV show my wife likes, and I pretend that I don’t : )

Let’s take out the time for sleeping (8 hrs) and working (8 hrs). That leaves 480 minutes. The tithe of that would be 48 minutes. We can all carve out 48 minutes somewhere from our day. If we can’t, try the following…

1. Pray that God will show us where we can get more time
2. Examine our priorities - is what we think is necessary, really that? I like visualizations that have us personally interacting with God. Imagine yourself literally standing before God. Tell him, “God, I don’t spend 48 minutes with you each day because ________ is more important.” Imagine the expression on his face, and what his response may be.
3. Remove the encumbering activities
4. Leave room for God’s guidance - there may be a day when this can not happen. It should be pretty rare, though. If this does, don’t beat yourself up about it. God wants us to be free from rigid man-made doctrines, and just follow his Word. It says in the Bible to seek his word, but does not specify a schedule.

OK, now we have 48 minutes - what do we do?

Two Bible reading plans

A Chapter a Day “keeps the devil away” : )

In a previous post I suggested that we tackle one chapter per day. This takes us through the Bible in 2 years, and helps us to understand what we are reading in greater depth. We spend less than 10 minutes reading, and the other 38 minutes discussing, researching, and praying. I still recommend this plan - reading for “mileage” does us no good if we don’t understand it.

And now I contradict myself…

Let’s say you are understanding most of what you read, but either are:

• craving more of God
• need a serious transformation of your mind
• having trouble seeing how all the disjointed stories we know in the Bible fit together

If you fit in any of these, you may want to try “Reading the Bible for mileage”

Did you know that half of the books of the Bible can be read in under 30 minutes?

If we spent 48 minutes per day reading the Bible, we would read through it twice in one year!

So here is plan #2:

1. 
   (If you aren’t already…) Become a Christian - God’s word is foolishness to unbelievers. Now obviously we read or hear his word before we become believers (or else we would never believe), but I promise you this. If you accept Jesus Christ as Lord of your life and accept the free gift of salvation he offers and forgiveness of sins, God comes into your heart via the Holy Spirit. This begins to change you. The process may seem slow, and you probably won’t feel anything (physically), but your life will change and the words of the Bible will come alive.
2. Start in the New Testament in the first book - Matthew. This way we learn about the new covenant between God and Man. When we get through the New Testaments, we can go back and start at Genesis. Trust, me. It’s easier this way and will make much more sense.
3. Pray for God’s leading of the Holy Spirit - that he will open our eyes to see, and ears to hear his words for us.
4. Read without distractions - Read for 48 minutes, or until we are done with the book.
5. Use extra time to review - If we finish the book in under 48 minutes, go back to difficult passages to re-read them, and then write them down to look up more information or ask someone.
6. Keep continuity - If we do not finish, pick up where we left off the next time
7. Rinse, lather, repeat - Do it all over again tomorrow

And I’ll prove it to you…

I will do plan #2 in my personal Bible reading (I do plan #1 when reading with my wife). I will then record the time right here on the website that it takes for me to read each book of the Bible. Of course this isn’t a race, and I am not reading for time - this is just hopefully a frame of reference to show how manageable reading the Bible can be.

Thanks for stopping by - Have a blessed day!

(Hey everyone, I fixed the problem that kept people from posting comments!)

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