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The Number 1 "MUST READ" of All Time

Writer's picture: Dennis L. PetersonDennis L. Peterson

"So many books, so little time!"


How often I've said those words, either to myself or to someone who has just suggested that I just must read some book they're recommending.


Researching my numerous in-progress writing projects requires that I read a lot. Magazine and journal articles, online articles, and books. I read until my eyes get so blurry that I find myself struggling to focus on the letters on the page or screen. Then I'm forced to take a break and do something else, giving my eyes a break. Even then, I feel somewhat guilty, and I'm drawn by a mysterious force or compulsion, like a magnet, back to the computer screen or written page.


I have little time to read for relaxation, for the sheer pleasure of it. Most of my reading is project driven.


But there is one kind of reading that I've learned I must continue, even if I have no time for pleasure reading and even if I must let project-driven reading slide for a short time. That is my daily Bible reading.


Perhaps you, too, acknowledge the importance of regular reading of that greatest of all books but think, as I, too, often think, that you just don't have time. After all, if you barely have time to read what you must for your job, especially if it requires reading massive amounts for writing research as I do, how will you find time to read even more?


I've found that the best time for me is the first thing in the morning. I call this time "the womb of the morning" (see my post at https://www.dennislpeterson.com/post/the-womb-of-the-morning on Psalm 110:3). No one else is up yet. The phone isn't ringing. In fact, I haven't even checked my phone for texts or email. I haven't turned on the computer. First things must come first.


Time is really not our problem. It actually doesn't take all that much time to read the Bible, as I'll show. The problem involves our desire and our lack of understanding of just how important Bible reading really is to our lives.


We tend to make time to do what we really want to do. So not reading our Bible isn't about our not having time but rather of not wanting to. It's a matter of priorities.


It doesn't take all that long to read the Bible. For example, consider the following facts about how long it takes someone, reading at the average adult reading speed of approximately 250 words per minute, to read these books of the Bible:

  • John--2 hrs.

  • Romans--1 hr.

  • 2 Corinthians--40 min.

  • Galatians--20 min.

  • Philippians--14 min.

  • Titus--7 min.

  • Jude--4 min.

  • Philemon--3 min.

  • 2 John--2 min.

  • 3 John--2 min.


Considering that you don't have to read most of those books in one sitting because they're broken into chapters, offering convenient stopping points, you could get through the entire New Testament in a few weeks or sooner. Of the 27 books of the New Testament, nineteen of them take less than an hour to read. Seventeen of them require less than half an hour. And eleven take less than 15 minutes.


The Old Testament is a little more time-consuming, but chapter divisions make even those longer books easy to read in short order.

  • Isaiah--3.75 hrs.

  • Genesis--3.5 hrs.

  • Joshua--1.75 hrs.

  • Job--1.75 hrs.

  • Proverbs--1.75 hrs.

  • Daniel--1.25 hrs.

  • Nehemiah--1 hr.

  • Esther--30 min.

  • Ecclesiastes--30 min.

  • Ruth--15 min.

  • Jonah--8 min.

  • Obadiah--4 min.


Just how important is it to read our Bible? Joshua 1:8 tells us how important and promises us a positive result if we do it. God, speaking to Joshua, said, "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."


We should read the Bible, but then we should think about what we've read, ponder its message, meditate on it. Then we must obey what it tells us. We are accountable to God for what we read in it and then how we respond to what we read. James 1:22 says, "But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."


Read the Bible. Pray over it. Ponder its message. But then practice it.


We have no legitimate excuse for not doing so. After all, the Bible is the number 1 "Must Read" of all time!

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©2022 by Dennis L. Peterson

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