Have you had your 3 and 5?

3rd December 2009 by Sandy MacDonald

OK. So the fruit and veggie thing is 2 and 5! But I'm talking about more important food - the holy word of God. I was blown away in a devotional reading the other morning. The writer (whose name I have forgotten already - it was a random, out of the ordinary devotional) reads the Bible through every year. Her claim is that you only need to read 3 chapters and day and 5 on Sunday to get through the Bible in a year. Doesn't actually sound too hard - or does it? It's a bit more though than "a chapter a day keeps the devil away!" and probably more than many of us are used to. Some devotional books only focus on 1 verse a day!

I don't know about you but I've tried heaps of different ways of reading the Bible and having a daily quiet time. Some things work well for a season and then it's time to explore something new. But no matter how you do it, you need to feast on God's word. If you're in a bit of a desert it could well be that you haven't been eating properly...

Apart from the Bible, the book that has had the most impact on my personal devotional time is "Sacred Pathways" by Gary Thomas. I came across it a few years ago now. One of the catch phrases on its cover says, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's spiritual walk."

This book reminds us that we're all wired differently. I don't have to spend my time with God the same way that you do and you don't need to do it the same way as your friends. The important thing is that you spend time with God! I thoroughly recommend this book if you're feeling you might need to try something different. [Please note though, it's not specifically targeted for youth but it's easy to read, not like reading a dry university textbook...]

So let me take these few moments to encourage you today as we're rapidly heading toward a new decade... How are you going to jump start or ramp up your Bible reading? I've certainly been challenged to ramp up my Bible reading and ramp down (is that a saying?) my TV watching. Why don't some of you share what types of things you do in your private time with God or what tools you use in the comments section below to encourage each other?

Sandy

Comments

Mel

December 03, 2009 at 9:59am

Very cool article, Sandy.

I have a Bible reading plan that gives you Sunday's off. As if it's a chore to read the Bible and you need a weekly reprieve. HA!

Wouldn't it be cool if we could change our thinking so our attitude was more along the lines of "Man, I can't wait until Sunday so I get to read an extra two chapters!"

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Caitie

December 06, 2009 at 12:23am

I did the 3 and 5 thing last year. Or at least I tried to. It took me way too long cause I would forget every other day, not have time and all that jazz, So I kind of gave up after about a month. But I'm kind of a nerd so I've taken to reading 50 chapters every second day and its working really well. But I guess if your not into that amount of reading so often I guess you could read 25 chapters a week and it gets you trough the whole bible in roughly a year as well. :P

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