| 15 Essential Biblical Texts |
If you’re like many Christians, you probably begin each New Year with the goal of reading through the entire Bible.
Maybe you’ve even achieved that goal once or twice.
The truth is, though, that most people won’t make it very far down that path once they realize how daunting the task really is and how intrusive and distracting everyday life can be.
And even if you did make it all the way through the Bible, did you get out of it all that you hoped to when you set out?
Likely not.
So what should you do? Just give up and accept that you’ll never read the entire Bible in a meaningful way?
Don’t Give Up!
Heck no!
The reason most Christians don’t achieve their Bible study goals are 1) they try to do too much at once and get overwhelmed and/or 2) they don’t have a solid path to follow and lose motivation.
Neither of those point to a personal or spiritual shortcoming — they’re just a consequence of the monumental (but vital) job of reading the whole Bible.
Fortunately, there are alternatives that can move you toward your goal of a better understanding of God’s word.
I’m talking about two-year Bible reading plans.
Now, you might be thinking that two-year plans just space out a one-year plan over a longer time period, but that’s not quite all there is to it. The best two-year plans are carefully thought out and orchestrated to both reduce your time restrictions and to enhance your reading enjoyment and comprehension.
With all that in mind, are you ready to finally move forward in your study of scripture, to read the entire Bible?
If so, then one of these wonderful two-year Bible reading plans just may be exactly what you need.
TGC Two-Year Bible Reading Plan
Stephen Witmer first unveiled The Gospel Coalition’s Two-Year Bible Reading Plan way back in 2010 … but it has stood the test of time.
That may sound silly considering how timeless the Bible itself is, but many Bible reading plans have some inherent weaknesses:
- They’re daunting, forcing you through what may be too many passages each day.
- They’re rigid, in that if you miss any reading sessions, you won’t reach the overall goal of the plan (time-wise, at least).
- They can be disjointed, in that they have you jumping from topic to topic.
- All of the above might encourage you to read quickly and gloss over the true meanings interlaced with God’s words.
TGC’s plan addresses most of these, and it’s a principled approach that nearly anyone can follow.
You can find an overview of the plan here, and a PDF copy of the plan here.
Ligonier Ministries 2-Year Bible Reading Plan
Founded by the late R.C. Sproul, Ligonier Ministries is one of the great sources for Christian Apologist information in the world today.
But they also provide more foundational materials, such as a complete suite of Bible reading plans.
In particular, they offer up multiple one-year and two-year plans, including one that has you reading through both the Old and New Testaments once, plus four trips through Psamls and Proverbs.
Check out Ligonier’s free Bible reading plans here.
Newspring Church Two-Year Reading Plan
South Carolina-based Newspring Church serves up a modern web experience that makes it easy to navigate through their various resources — not that web design is the focus of this post, but it’s nice to see, and the site flows well.
One of the offerings from Newspring is a Two-Year Reading plan that has you sampling from Psalms or Proverbs each day, along with a longer passage from other books.
It’s a nice, steady pace that helps you reach your goal of reading the entire Bible in two years.
Check out the two-year Bible reading plan here.
The Bible in TWO YEARS
“The Bible in Two Years” is provided by the Providence Presbyterian Church in Concord, NC.
Like the other entries in this post, this Bible reading plan has you finishing the entire scriptures in two years.
What sets “The Bible in TWO YEARS” apart is that it’s organized in rough chronological order, meaning that you will be reading about the events in context with each other (again, roughly).
It’s a neat idea that can give you a different perspective on your Bible studies and can help keep you engaged in the narrative.
You can find “The Bible in TWO YEARS” here.
2-Year Bible Reading Plan from LisaNotes.com
LisaNotes.com is the online home of Lisa, a wife, mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother … and most of all a Christian writing about, as she puts it, “how I see God in the everyday.”
Lisa’s blog is well worth visiting on a regular basis, but her two-year Bible reading plan is a special gem.
Like other similar plans, Lisa’s plan gets you through the Bible in two years, but she has taken special care to make sure it works for your situation.
In particular, she has you studying five days a week instead of the full seven, which can really help avoid burnout (it happens even with the Bible).
Lisa also covers the entire Bible in 95 weeks, which gives you plenty of leeway over the two-year period.
Finally, Lisa alternates between the Old and New Testament, while respecting chronological order to enhance readability.
All in all, Lisa is a woman who is dedicated to sharing God’s word, and her two-year Bible reading plan demonstrates that dedication in spades.
You can find her introductory post here and a PDF of her reading plan here.
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So, which of these plans is best for you?
The answer to that question will, of course, depend on your particular situation, study habits, and reading preferences. But you probably can’t go too wrong with any of them, and you can always change course later on.
The important thing is to get moving with a plan that is manageable for you, and that you’ll stick with.
And if you do pick a particular entry here and follow it through — or at least for awhile — I’d love to hear how it went for you.
What was great about the plan, and what did you have to adjust? And did you make it all the way through the Bible?
Finally, if you know of any great two-year Bible reading plans I should include here, please let me know!
