I am almost fifty years old, and I am more than a little ashamed to admit that I have never read the Bible all the way through. Although, if I’m being honest, I’m probably not the only one.
Yes, I went to church as a child. I even attended some through my early twenties and thirties. Yet for some reason, I never actually read the entire Bible. I knew the stories—or at least I thought I did.
What I’ve come to realize is that a lot of what I thought I knew was shaped by what I heard from others. Mainstream media, conversations, opinions—those things have a way of coloring the truth without us even realizing it.
A few years ago, I decided to change that.
I sat down with a yearly reading plan and committed to reading the Bible from beginning to end. From April through December, I read almost every single day. I was consistent. I was proud of myself.
And then… I stopped.
Something happened in my personal life, and I just couldn’t bring myself to keep going. I told myself I would pick it back up, but I never did. Since then, I’ve tried several times to go back and finish. Each time, I get close, and then I stop again.
The strange thing is, I’m more than halfway through. I’m almost to the New Testament. I’ve already done so much of the work, and yet I still struggle to move forward. At the same time, I’ve set a goal for myself this year.
I want to finish it.
Not because I feel like I “have to,” but because I want to. I want to be able to say that I have read the Bible all the way through at least once in my life. I want to understand it for myself, not just through the lens of what I’ve been told.
It’s a little ironic when you think about it.
There are so many people who can quote verses easily, who seem to know Scripture by heart. Maybe they learned those verses growing up. Maybe they studied them over time. I don’t know.
But I do know this:
Knowing a few verses isn’t the same as understanding the whole story. And I think that’s where I’ve been.
I’ve known pieces.
Fragments.
Moments.
But not the full picture.
So here I am, starting again, somewhere in the middle. Not at the beginning. Not at the end. Just where I am. And maybe that’s okay.
Maybe reading the Bible for the first time doesn’t have to look perfect. Maybe it doesn’t have to be a straight path from Genesis to Revelation without stopping. Maybe it looks like trying again. Like picking it back up after you’ve set it down. Like reading a little at a time and letting it sink in.
Maybe it looks like grace.
If you’ve never read the Bible all the way through or if you’ve started and stopped more times than you can count you’re not alone. I’m right there with you. And this time, I’m choosing to begin again.
