Read big chunks of the Bible

The majority of the Bible wasn't written to be read a verse or chapter at a time.

It was written to be read in large chunks including whole epistles in one sitting. That writting style is important as verses and chapters don't live in isolation; they frequently build on what came before and what comes after.

One year ago, I become convicted that I should start reading larger chunk of the Bible instead of one or two chapters at a time. It was a huge shift in my Bible reading habits and changed how I read and saw the scriptures. Here's why, what and how.

The benefits of reading in large chunks

Beside the fact that this is how the text were written and meant to be read, there are some real benefits.

• It's easier to focus on the bigger picture rather than getting hung up on confusing words or sentences.
• You can more easily see themes and types
• Instead of read chunks, you read whole narrative arcs making them easier to understand
• You gain more textual context (preventing twisting a passage)

And I'm sure there's a couple more that I've forgotten.

What does it mean to read in large chunks?

Your goal should be to read complete, not parts of a text.

What does that mean? Perhaps some examples would be helpful.

• Read epistles in one sitting
• Read Gospels in one or two runs
• Follow one or two characters in a historical narrative.

Ideally you'd read every book in one sitting but some of the longer Old Testament texts and gospels can be more challenging so if you are going to take a break, do it when there's a change in perspective or character.

How to get started?

The easiest way to start is to read the shorter epistles starting with Philemon.

Their brievity is an aid to building up this habit of reading complete books. Once you've got through a few of them, try Mark's gospel which should only take an hour or two.

You can also use the redeeming time app that shows you how long

You shouldn't only read large chunks

Reading in large chunks is great, but there are benefits to reading in shorter chunks as well. In fact, we'll look at that in the next article.