Where Do I Start When Reading My Bible?

Apr 03, 2019

The Bible is a collection of 66 books. There are 2 divisions between these books, the Old Testament with 39 books and the New Testament with 27 books. With all these different books, it can be hard to decide where to start. Not to mention, it can be completely overwhelming when you look at the Bible as a whole - I mean it’s a big book, and those words can be pretty small!

When you break it down book by book, that makes the chunks a bit smaller, and easier to manage. I like to point people to the New Testament before reading the Old Testament for their first time reading. The New Testament starts with the story of Jesus in the 4 gospels and that is a great place to begin your Bible reading journey.

WHAT BOOK DO I START WITH?

The gospels are 4 books of the Bible, each written by a different one of Jesus’ followers. They are named after the follower that they were written by: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They are all basically telling the same story, but have different mini stories inside of them, as well as some stories in multiple accounts. The first book written after Jesus died was Mark, so I like to start there. However, the order that they are in inside of the Bible is a little different and starts with Matthew. There is no particular order that they have to be read in. Just personal preference.

WHAT ABOUT THE OLD TESTAMENT?

A lot of people when starting a book start at the beginning, which in the Bible’s case is Genesis. It starts with the words “In the beginning...” and is the very beginning of all time. So it is a great place to start. But the problem I see with several new Bible readers is that it is easy to get bogged down in those first couple books. There are lots of laws, lots of details that can seem to be out of place, and without the context of who Jesus is, it can be easy to lose sight of why we are reading it in the first place. The Old Testament is very important (and is probably my favorite Testament, if that is a thing) but if you don’t realize that it is all setting the stage for Jesus, it can be hard to read.

Rhett and I always joke about this scene from Psych. The Old Testament can be so confusing some times, and we all have so many misconceptions about it!

Rhett and I always joke about this scene from Psych. The Old Testament can be so confusing some times, and we all have so many misconceptions about it!

SO HOW DO I GET STARTED?

Pick a book. This is totally up to you. Let’s say you pick Mark. Pray that God will help you understand it. Read 1 chapter of Mark per day. Read it with a notebook by you, and write down any questions you may have. Don’t try to answer those questions right away, because maybe something that you are reading later in the book will answer those questions. So just write them for now, and maybe even ask a mentor or Bible teacher to help you find the answers if you still can’t understand when you are finished with the book. Pick another book. Repeat.

I heard an analogy by Jen Wilkin once about how when we are reading our Bible we expect it to be like a debit card, but it is really like adding to a savings account. You may not get a withdrawal from the text every day. But you are making a deposit. And over time those deposits will add up, and you will have a bank of Bible knowledge and wisdom to use in your daily life.

Don’t lose heart. Keep reading. You can do it, friend.