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I first decided to read through the entire Bible in 100 Days towards the end of 2020. It seemed like a good way to spend the most ridiculously crazy year of my lifetime. I knew that God was up to something in this world, if anything, reminding us all of our own mortality, and I wanted to dig into his Word and know him more intimately as I pondered meeting him face to face. I heard a statistic on the radio that said Christians are reading their Bibles less than they were before the pandemic started! While this seemed incredibly sad to me, it also convicted me as I questioned how much of my own time was spent in the Word of God this past year. So, I just simply looked at the calendar to make sure there were actually 100 days left in the year. I then looked at the total number of pages my Bible had in it (mine had 1547) and divided that number by 100. It divided out to 15.47 pages per day, and so I knew I needed to read at least 15 pages a day with a few extra thrown in here and there to reach my goal.
Each time I’ve attempted to read the Bible through in past years, I had started at the beginning, intending to read straight through from beginning to end, and then got bogged down somewhere in Leviticus or Jeremiah and got busy, lost track, or forgot. So with this attempt, I decided to alternate between Old and New Testament books, in order to keep my interest level and engagement higher. I also made a schedule with a checklist to check off books as I read them. I chose 100 days not only because I wanted to finish by the end of the year, but also because I’m a Type 3 achiever on the enneagram and achievement is my top strength on my Strengthsfinder top 5 list, and I decided that doing it in a shorter time span of 100 Days would fill that need in me for “achievement” and checking off those boxes! If that isn’t you, no worries, this plan is fully customizable! There are multiple ways to use this list and the plan can be used to read in 100, 200, or 300 days in whatever order that fits your needs and lifestyle and ability!
This Bible reading plan pairs books with similar themes and history weaving the grand story of Jesus as our Redeemer in the Bible together. For instance, we begin in Genesis with creation, and then move to John, which emphasizes Jesus as the Word made flesh who was with God in the beginning. The historical books that give us the history of the Israelites, are paired loosely with the prophetic books that give us the messages the prophets of God were speaking to the people to warn them to repent during these times. We will read Leviticus paired with Hebrews as they deal with the old and new covenants with God. Prophetical books that speak to the future reign of Christ and judgment of this world are read alongside Revelation. With the exception of a few books and the Psalms, which are interwoven with the stories from David’s life, we will read each book in its entirety before moving on to another one. Use the boxes to check off your readings, which will be around 15 chapters or so per day if you are doing the 100 Day version. To read in 200 Days, just read the assigned portion for the 100 Days but you may take 2 days to do so and check both boxes, and similarly for 300 Days by using 3 boxes.
To complete this, I had to make choices for how I spent some of my time. I missed some movie nights with the kids, and didn’t get into the latest show on Netflix, but I don’t regret any of the time I spent in expectation of hearing from God through his Word, and the growth I experienced through it. We are called to number our days and use our time wisely as believers, and I believe that none of the time spent drawing closer to God by soaking into his word is wasted. May the Lord bless you and keep you as you draw closer to him in 2021 with his word. Download it here.
Happy Reading! —April Graney