January 13, 2021
Dear friends,
Occasionally I get questions about how to read the Bible. These are great questions, and I’m so happy to hear when folks are interested in renewing their devotion to God’s Word. It can be a formidable task, however, as the book is quite thick, and it’s possible to get lost in the weeds and lose your bearings.
For folks who have that apprehension, I often recommend starting with this:
Concordia’s Bible History from Concordia Publishing House (CPH), which you can also find on Amazon, is neatly divided into 12 big sections that further divide into 143 chapters. It covers the history of God’s people beginning with creation through the life of Jesus to the end of Paul’s mission.
One really nice thing about it is that it does not stray from what’s in the Bible. In some places it’s a paraphrase just to condense the story, but it doesn’t add things to the Biblical text. That’s important so that as you move from reading this to reading the Bible itself, the very words will be familiar.
It is not, however, everything that’s in the Bible. It contains the histories, but not, for instance, the teaching of Paul’s Epistles. That’s why you should think of it as a helpful stepping stone to give you the big picture so that when you pick up your Bible and read, you know where it fits into the overall story.
It is especially suitable for family devotions. Read a chapter a day and you can get through it twice a year and then some! If there are younger kids in your home, say Kindergarten age or younger, yet another good stepping stone is this book:
The Story Bible from CPH, also available on Amazon, is an easier-to-read version, with 130 stories and beautiful illustrations. Again, you can get through that almost 3 times a year at just a story a day!
Both of these books are helpful for building up the habit of devotion to God’s Word and for laying a solid foundation for reading the Bible daily. Get started today! And if you miss a few days, pick it up again! Keep going!
God bless and keep you,
Pr. Buchs