Should You Read Or Study Your Bible?

I grew up hearing preachers talk all the time about studying your Bible. 

It seemed that so many emphasized that you should not simply read the Bible like you would any other book.

I felt guilty if I didn’t read my Bible. 

Then I would also feel guilty when I read it thinking that I wasn’t reading it slowly enough. Or, that I wasn’t doing Greek and Hebrew word studies as I read. 

All this talk about having to study the Bible (and not just read it) got me paranoid to think that whatever I did it would not be good enough.

Are you paralyzed with your Bible reading? 

Allow me to tell you that it is OK for you to read your Bible. 

If you want to take 3 months and study one word in the Bible, you are welcome to do that. 

If you want to read the entire Bible in a week, then that is fine too.

I think we have been told for far too long that reading your Bible like you would read any other book means that you are not spending time with God’s Word and you can’t really understand what it is saying. 

My question to those people is whether or not they can understand any other book they read. 

If they can, then they can probably understand the Bible just as well. 

And aren’t they going to read the Bible many times throughout their life? 

There are things they will see and learn the next time through.

Certainly there are times when extensive study is necessary and appropriate. 

But there are also times when getting a picture of what the whole Bible says at once will help you understand God’s Word more clearly. 

If you take 3 years to read through the Bible at one time, then you aren’t going to see the neat connection that the book of Hebrews has with the book of Leviticus. You can’t even remember where Leviticus was by the time you get to Hebrews.

Enjoy God’s Word at whatever pace you need to so that you can be brought into better fellowship with Him.

Source:     Should You Read Or Study Your Bible?