When it comes to having ready access to the Scriptures, Christians living today really do live in a unique time in the history of the church.
If we’re not careful we can begin to think it’s a normal thing to have regular access to a Bible, when in reality this has not been true for most of the Christians who have come before us. To be able to pull down a printed Bible from a bookshelf or pick one up from your coffee table is a testament to the amazing period of time we’re currently living.
It wasn’t until 1455 that the first printed Bible was created. Up until that point, the only copies of “the Bible” were handwritten sections (sometimes bound together in larger sections) of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. And these were not readily available to everyone. They were shared, and copied, and passed on from community to community and from church to church. This means that if you were born in the year 1500 and you were converted to Christianity in your twenties, you more than likely had no Bible to read on your own for your entire life because, although the printed Bible was around, it was expensive—more expensive than you could have afforded. Sure, you probably had a church to go to and that church may have had access to the Scriptures, but this did not mean you had the opportunity to read the Bible on your own.
Think about that with me a little more. That’s roughly 1,500 years after the entirety of the New Testament writings were penned and started to be copied by the earliest Jesus followers. For nearly 1,500 years, Christians had no choice but to rely on others to tell them the stories or their local church to make the Scriptures available by reading out whatever they had access to during the services.
That was then, but what about now?
For large portions of the world—and this does not mean every part of the world—what used to be a given about limited to no access to the Bible just isn’t so any longer. We have immediate access now, but that it not without it’s own set of questions and complications.
What translation of the Bible do you want to read? Because, there are many to choose from. Do you want a Bible printed on paper or an electronic one? How about one that reads to you? You know, if you go to the store down the road you can actually pick up and try out a number of different Bibles.
Do you want one where the words of Jesus are in red or black? What about the font size? Do you want a larger font or a smaller font? Also, did you know that they make Bibles with single column spacing and others double column spacing? How about one where there aren’t any footnotes? Because, those can be distracting. They even make them now where they’ve taken the chapter and verse numbers out because, you know, those were actually added later.
Do you want to see what the New Testament looked like in the original Greek? How about the Old Testament in Hebrew? They have those for you, too. Did you know that you can access the Bible almost anytime anywhere from your computer or your phone?
You don’t even have to own a Bible, they’re free online to read whenever you want.
For large portions of the world—maybe most notably the United States—that’s the reality now. We are spoiled for choice.
Now, we can’t really do anything about the time we’re living in. Nor, would we really want to. I mean, who would want to give away the access to the Scriptures we have now? God has blessed us greatly and we ought not reject that blessing. That being said, let’s also be sure not turn this blessing into a curse because of how we mismanage it.
What should we do then with all these choices?
Make a decision and move forward.
Should you read the NIV or the ESV? To be honest, I don’t think it matters that much. Just pick one and read it. The best translation is the one you actually read.
Should you read a paper Bible or an electronic one. I don’t think that matters much either, as long as you’re reading it. I’ve used both in the past and I’ve benefited from both.
Should you use a reading plan or just read at your own pace? Again, as long as your reading, I don’t think it matters much. The point of reading your Bible is not to complete a plan or read a certain number of pages each day. The point of reading your Bible is to grow closer to God through coming to know him in his word.
When offered the abundance of choices with respect to the Bible we can often turn into little kids with a table full of deserts. We can freeze up and do nothing because we can’t decide on a cupcake, or a brownie, or ice cream, or cookies. We miss out because we can’t make up our minds.
Make up your mind for your Bible reading. Don’t make it more difficult than it needs to be. Pick up and read today and tomorrow pick up and read again. And, if what translation you’re reading or how you’re reading changes then that’s OK. The point is not to be overwhelmed with making the “right decision” for your Bible reading. The point is to read.