1000 Consecutive Days of Reading the Bible

Today, one thousand days ago I started using the YouVersion Bible app to read the Bible everyday. Although I used the app to read the Bible everyday, I only started using the app to actually read systematically through the Bible using their different Bible-in-a-year programs. 

The first plan I read was simply called "Read Through the Bible." For this reading I used the New American Standard Bible 1995 Edition (NASB95), which is my favourite version for reading and studying the Bible.

The second plan was called "Reading God's Story: One-Year Chronological Plan." It is always interesting to read through the Bible chronologically. It draws a timeline of God's dealings with man, and salvation history. For this I used the Christian Standard Bible (CSB). I really like this version since it's translation philosophy is somewhere between that of the New International Version (NIV) and the NASB.

The plan that I am currently reading is the "M'Cheyne One Year Reading Plan." With this plan you read in four Biblical books at once. I enjoy this plan. Robert Murray M'Cheyne put a lot of time into it, and sometimes one gets the feeling that the different readings are related. The Bible translation I am using for this plan is the English Standard Version (ESV). The ESV is a good literal translation. But, it is second on my list of usable literal translations, while the NASB is my number one.

When I started on this 1000-day journey, I never thought of "aiming" for 1000 consecutive days. All I wanted to do was to be consistent with my reading efforts. It is simply too easy to skip a day when you have skipped one before. The next thing you know, you will skip two days, then three, then a week, and before you know it, you have stopped reading altogether!

By the time I reached 500 days, I realized that I could reach 1000 consecutive days. It is round about here that I made up my mind that I would not entertain the thought of skipping a day. There was a time when I had to put in a lot of additional hours for work, and I would finish the day's work close to midnight. Even then, before I slept, I would first read the portion of the day.

For some, 1000 days are just pitiful. There are some whom have read through the Bible over and over for decades, and that is laudable. For me, this journey isn't about reading the Bible on consecutive days more than anyone else has. It is the consistency with which I want to keep on approaching the Bible, every day of my life, holding up the mirror of God's Word in order to see what I am reflecting, whether good or bad!