Look Forward to Reading the Bible (and Grow Your Faith)

Reading in God’s Word began as rote. Sometimes I’d go into it with my mind distracted, elsewhere and find myself reading passages two, three or more times before it sunk in…(if it ever really did completely). Sound familiar?

Today, that’s completely different. Instead of loathing time in God’s Word, I literally look forward to that time each day. In fact, I find myself tempted to read ahead rather than leave the reading for tomorrow’s time.

Here’s what helped change things and might be a help to you:

• I found time when I’m undistracted. I start early in the morning when I’m at my freshest.
• No distractions. I make it a point to resist opening up email or reading news. If I do, I find myself sidetracked and thinking about the day ahead instead of focused on what I’m reading.
• Make the time enjoyable. For me, having a hot cup of coffee next to me as I read makes it even more enjoyable. For you, it could be a cup of tea or sitting outdoors on the patio.
• Stick with it. Making it a regular time every day helped cement it as a habit in just two to three weeks.

In a year, you can read through the Bible fairly effortlessly. I’ve stuck with it for several years now. Each time, I look forward to the same passages, anticipating the stories coming up. But, I have a different perspective — a different place God has me from the year before. And so, I learn something different. But, I find myself now wondering about the context of the stories — what was life like at the time? How did the journeys mentioned look geographically as mountains and roadways are referenced?

One thing I’ve been doing each year is reading through a different translation. A Bible like the Life Essentials Study Bible helps mix things up even more with several “pause points” to allow you to dig further into the passage you’re reading and get the most out of it.

I’m thankful to be a part of LEV3L Digital that helps get the word out about new faith and family products. It’s actually a company I co-founded with a couple talented friends. This past month, I received the CSB Life Essentials Interactive Study Bible to review.

Many of us have had study Bibles with commentary at the bottom that gives a good level of insight. This Bible is study on steroids. You won’t open up to a spread that doesn’t have several callouts, highlighted Verses and QR codes. If you were looking for that background context, you’ve found it, haha. The way I approach this study Bible is the insights are there when I need it. You see, I like to read and learn what God wants to teach me first. If I still have questions or just want more background, these sidebars are helpful to get into the shoes of the characters and even have a better cultural understanding. The QR codes all lead to video studies with Dr. Gene Getz and provide more depth to the passage surrounding it. A simple point and shoot with your smartphone camera gets you there. Typically, each spread has at least one and more commonly two or three. My advice: don’t use all the features on each page unless you want to.

Read and enjoy God’s Word. It’s like honeycomb as David put it in Psalm 19. It’s meant to be a sweet time, not work or a drudgery. But, when you want more background, it’s there exponentially in this study Bible.

Would you like to win this Bible? Join us on social (see below) and look for details on either Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Hurry though—contest winners are will be announced on social end of day Friday, 5/8/20.

QUICK SHOUTOUT: All of these things, fyi, were things I had heard from pastor Wayne Cordeiro and a book he wrote called The Divine Mentor.