The Pros and Cons of a 90 Day Bible Reading Plan

If you are longing to experience the full beauty of the Biblical metanarrative, try a 90 Day Bible Reading Plan.  Here are some of the pros and cons.

On New Year's night, exhausted from watching the unbelievable fireworks here in Metro Manila on New Years Eve, I put the kids down early for bed and picked up Women of the Word, a book I was borrowing from a friend.  Unable to put it down, I finished the book within a couple of hours.  In it, author Jen Wilkin mentions the idea of studying the Bible with perspective: understanding where each passage fits in the Biblical metanarrative.  I was drawn to the idea of firming up my own memory of the Biblical timeline by doing a quick read-through of the entire Bible.  (Many years and six children have occurred since my graduate school Bible classes.)

Because of this, I started the New Year with a prayer that God would show me what to do in my devotions this year.  After I prayed about this, my husband came into the room to tell me that he had purchased a 90 Day Bible for Kindle.  I was immediately struck with the idea that this was probably the Lord's answer to my prayer.  So he shot it to my Kindle, and this is the plan I am currently using in my devotional time.  Timmy, my 11-year-old, also wanted to use this plan.  (This blesses a Mama's heart!)  And I have a dear friend who is planning to do a similar plan.  So there are three of us doing this and we plan to hold each other accountable.

The Pros and Cons of a 90 Day Bible Reading Plan

​What are the pros and cons of a 90 Day Bible Reading Plan?

THE PROS:

• You see the big picture, the metanarrative of redemption traced throughout the entire Bible.
• A lot happens in your life between one devotional time and the next.  It's easy to forget what you read the day before.  With this method, you don't lose track of what is happening in your reading as easily.
• You experience subsequent historical events in close proximity to each other.
• You pick up on new details, new tie-ins that you missed before because you read them several days apart.
• Even the themes of books become more clear to you as you read it in a compressed manner.
• It is easier to remember the events that occur in a single book in the Bible because you finish it so quickly.  (--This is Timmy's recent unsolicited observation.)

THE CONS:

• I can't do in-depth study.  There's not enough time in my morning.  So maybe I'll do that after I finish with the 90 days.
• It takes time, about 30-40 minutes a day to read carefully.
• If you fall behind, it is harder to catch up.  My 90 Day Bible compensates for this by finishing in 88 days, leaving 2 extra days for catch up or other readings.

Would you like to try the 90 Day Plan?  You don't have to purchase a special Bible, of course.  Here is the link to a 90 Day Bible Reading Plan that you can print off. 

If you don't want to try a 90 Day Bible Reading Plan, but want to use a systematic plan for reading through your Bible, there are many other options.  Read this post for links to six different options.  

Whatever you choose to do this year, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.

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