Making Time for Bible Study

We have all said it, “I just don’t have time. I’ll do it later, maybe tonight or in the morning.” And then we get up, get going, go to work, come home, help the kids with this and that, make dinner, clean up, get ready for bed, get ready for tomorrow, finally go to sleep, and then we do it all again the next day. (I’m exhausted just typing all that!) It seems like there just aren’t enough hours in the day, so how do we add Bible study to the already scrunched day?

We know it’s possible. We know people who read the Bible every day. So how do we make time for the Bible without adding more hours to the day?

When I sat down to write up this post, I had a draft written out that would help you systemically process through your day to take out all of the unnecessary, timewasters and focus on what’s important so you could be sure that you were getting the most out of your day by studying God’s Word. But here’s the thing, Bible study becomes a part of your day if you actually want it to. If something is important, you make time for it no matter what it is. So, you have to ask yourself: Is Bible study actually important to me? Or do I just talk about wanting to read my Bible because that’s what I’m supposed to do?

That question might step on your toes. It did mine for a long time. I had an excuse every day, and I just laughed it off because, I mean that’s just life, right? We just give it our best shot and if we miss, oh well. And to a degree, that’s true. We should give it our best shot. But be honest…are you giving Bible study your best shot? This is not a guilt-trip question. This is not a shame-on-you question.  This a take-a-deep-breath-and-ask-yourself-realistically kind of question. Is Bible study actually important to you?

If the answer is no, stop reading and go about your day because the rest of this article is not for you.

But if reading your Bible every day is important you then please, read on!

Bible study doesn’t have to be hours of pouring yourself over book after book. Although, if you do get sucked into the Bible for hours, that’s fantastic!

Bible study at its core is reading God’s Word and soaking it in. It’s making the decision that you are going to read your Bible and then doing it. To make Bible study an important part of your day, it has to be scheduled like you would a meeting with someone important because God is important. He is the most important!

So, make the commitment to be God’s Word every single day. Write the time in your planner, on a sticky note, wherever you need to so that you will see every single day and schedule your day around that appointment. If a friend wants to do something during that time, “Ah sorry, I have an appointment then. What about another time?”

If you want Bible study time, you have to make it a sacred time that nobody gets to interrupt. That’s the only way it works.

Tips to Help Your Bible Study Time

I asked some friends what they do to read their Bible every day. Here’s what they said:

• Pray about it. If you really want Bible study time, ask God to help you make that time in your day.
• Read to the kids every night before bed. We have always made it a habit to read books before bed so it was easy to incorporate Bible reading into the tradition we already had.
• Get up an hour before anyone else gets out of bed. It’s a peaceful and quiet time that is uninterrupted.
• Read the Bible as a family in the evenings. We just make it a point to have a devotional every night with Scripture and prayers at bedtime.
• When I get up in the mornings, I make coffee and read.
• The audio Bible is my favorite for this.
• Coffee and concentrated time in the Word before anything else.
• Commitment to it being one of the first things- it’s not optional, it’s the priority- not other things, not even breakfast. If you don’t have that mental state, you will compromise.
• Accountability- While we also emphasize and encourage individual Bible Study, everyone knows that as a family we are going to spend time in God’s Word before bedtime.
• Switch it up. There have been several times we have read all the way through the Bible in a year as a family (both straight through and chronologically). We have spent a year focusing on the OT and a year on the NT. This year we focused on just the Gospels & Acts. I think our plan for next year will be to focus on the OT prophets.
• Write Scripture.
• Listen to a chapter a day.
• Use daily studies in a Bible app.