Read the Bible Straight through this Year?

At the start of a new year many of us attempt to start new good habits (or rekindle dormant ones). Reading more of the Bible is a common one, and lots of people jump in hoping to read the entire Old and New Testaments in 12 months. This Christianity Today article surveys several church leaders about their opinions on tackling all 66 books of the Bible this year. I tend to agree with the thoughts near the bottom of the page: Reading the entire Bible straight through in one year is usually a recipe for frustration -- after a few weeks it is easy to fall behind and get discouraged.

At my churches we have a weekly reading plan in each Sunday's bulletin, and the church websites are updated with it each week. These readings lead up to each Sunday's message based on the Revised Common Lectionary and are designed to take about 5 minutes per day.

Other reading plans are abound. Let me just offer a small sampling of other options:

• Daily Office Readings from the Book of Common Prayer. This is a personal favorite. It follows a two-year cycle and includes daily readings from the Psalms, Old Testament, New Testament epistles, and the gospels. Time commitment: about 15 minutes per day.
• Forty-Day Getting Started Plan. This one is new to me, but I really like the concept. In 40 days you hit the major concepts of God's plan in the Old and New Testaments. Time commitment: 5-10 min.
• Chronological Survey. Similar to the plan above, this one takes you through major portions of the scriptures in 2 months.
• New Testament in One Year. This is much more manageable than doing the entire Bible. Major disadvantage: no Old Testament Readings. Time Commitment: about 5 minutes. 

In addition to reading plans, daily devotionals are good ways to stay on track with a daily scripture reading. They usually have a smaller portion of scripture and include a comment or challenge. There are many of these available. Let me just list two:

• The Upper Room. A ministry of the Global Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church. This also comes in print or in the form of a daily email.
• My Utmost for His Highest. These compiled thoughts from Oswald Chambers' writings and messages are still challenging, even though they come from an earlier generation.