Same Page Summer 2025
"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God maybe thoroughly equipped for every good work. In the presence of God and ofChrist Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of hisappearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: preach the Word; be preparedin season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage, with great patienceand careful instruction" (2 Timothy 3:16-4:2).
"Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading ofScripture, to preaching and to teaching" (1 Timothy 4:13).
There was a time when there were very few Bibles, even in culturedlands. There were no printing presses, and most of the people were illiterate.If people received the Word, it was through the public reading of Scripture bypeople who could read and had the Scriptures. Now in the church today in this country,we can read, and we each own at least one Bible.
A year ago* at one of our schools of practical Christianity,we asked the students three questions: "How long have you been aChristian? How many times have you read the New Testament? How many times haveyou read the Old Testament?" When the answers were added, we found outthat the average reading of the New Testament was every 2 ½ years, and theaverage reading of the Old Testament was every 7 years.
This last weekend, I was at a men’s conference, and I askedthe same three questions. The total number of years of Christianity was 514.5years. The total number of times through the New Testament was 36 and throughthe Old Testament was 18. In other words, the New Testament was read every 14 yearsand the Old every 28 years. This amounts to spending less than 30 seconds aday in the Bible. This is not very encouraging.
Here is a printable plan we hope will encourage you to read theNew Testament. Even if you are a very slow reader, you can read the whole Biblethrough in 80 hours. If you are a listener instead of a reader, you can listento the whole Bible on an audio app. I listen in my car and enjoy it very much. You can find more info on the plan at TotheWord.com. The plan starts next Monday.
*Written May 1992. Updated to include details of the 2025 Same Page Summer reading plan.
