Did you know that the Bible is the most widely read book in the world? The Bible is quoted more often than any other piece of literature and has had more influence on our language, customs, and laws than any other book ever published.

Yet there are many people who seldom, if ever, read the Bible. Why?

Many people assume that the Bible's language is too difficult for the average person to understand. Others are a little frightened by the Bible's size, and some people just don't expect to find anything in the Bible that applies to the needs and problems of men and women in the twentieth century.

None of these obstacles, however, is impossible to overcome. For example, the Bible you hold in your hand is a modern translation of the ancient Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. Its contemporary English makes the message of the Bible easy to understand.

Getting Started

The size of the Bible can be a little intimidating. It is a big book - or a small library. The Bible is made up of sixty-six smaller books written over a period of hundreds of years. So it isn't really necessary to start at the very beginning in order to get the greatest benefit.

In fact, if you are just getting started, you will probably want to begin reading either Mark or John. Mark is a short, fast-moving account of the life of Jesus, written by a young man who was probably an eyewitness of many of the things that Jesus did and who knew Jesus' disciples and could draw on their memories. John, written by one of Jesus' closest followers, tells the story of Jesus from a slightly different perspective.

Then you could follow the growth of Christians by reading the book of Acts. This continues the exciting story of the early believers and how they spread the story and teachings of Jesus throughout their world.

Next, you might want to consider Romans, a letter written by the early Christian leader Paul. Follow this with some of the other smaller books in the New Testament, like Philippians, James, and 1 John.

In the Old Testament, read the exciting stories in Genesis, the book of beginnings. Then move to books named Ruth, Nehemiah, Job, Jonah, and others. Read complete stories; don't stop at the end of a chapter.

Then turn to the Psalms to get a sense of what it means to worship God and to pour out your deepest feelings to him. Save the longer prophetic books and the books relating to the law and so forth until last. You may want to establish a daily reading pattern that includes several psalms along with a section from either the Old or New Testament.

There are two essential habits that keep our bodies alive: breathing and eating. Like the physical world, the spiritual world also involves basic actions. In spiritual living, prayer is like breathing and reading the Bible is like eating food.

Prayer is speaking, listening, and responding to God, and the Bible is God's written word to us. A spiritual life without these habits will be as uncomfortable as physical life without air and food. Too long without them and we die. Prayer is conversation with God. Little children have to learn conversation as they grow up. One of the difficulties in learning to pray is that most of us have lost a quality that we had as children that made it easy to learn to talk. We were not self-conscious like we are now. We must remember that God is a parent to us. He is interested in our talking to him, even if at first we do it poorly. One of the by-products of regular Bible reading will be an improvement in our sense of relaxation when we pray. Prayer is like breathing - it must be done even if it can't be done very well.

It should be clear, then, that making the Bible a regular part of our daily lives is basic to Christian living. Time in God's Word needs to be on that list of things that you simply do every day whether you have time to do them or not. Bible reading is more important even than taking time out for meals, personal hygiene, favorite television shows, etc. It doesn't necessary have to replace any of those things, but it must have at least the same level of priority. If you knew that God wanted an appointment to talk to you personally every day, when would you schedule him?

Text taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright Ôø‡ 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. "NIV" and "NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION" are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark office by International Bible Society.