The Bible can be read aloud in 70 hours - and Americans watch 151 hours of TV a month

[James Nored]

Time. 

 

None of us seem to have any. We talk about how precious it is. We speak of it as a commodity when we talk about "saving time" or "borrowing time" or "giving up our time."

 

With long commutes and both parents working in most families (or single parents trying to do it all), there is no doubt that there is a time crunch in the US.

 

But we are fooling ourselves if we think that we don't have time to read God's word.

 

In The Externally Focused Life, authors Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson open up their book saying: "There are 66 books in the Bible, 1,189 chapters, 31,101 verses, and 783,137 words . . . [but] the Bible can be read aloud in 70 hours." And the average American as of 2009 watched 151 hours of television a month. Click here for stat. And in 2008, Americans were spending 28 hours on the Internet per month. Click here for stat. That number surely has risen in the last three years.

 

Now, all of this time on the Internet and watching is not necessarily bad. Christians keep informed, pay bills, watch, read, and download Christian resources, etc. through these mediums. But if all this time were added up, it is clear that the average American could read through the entire Bible at least twice a month, every month, if he or she wanted to do so.

 

If you asked the average American Christian if they had time to read through the entire Bible in a month, they would laugh. And yet, it is clear that most all of us could do that. We simply choose not to.

 

So why don't we make this choice? Why don't I make this choice? That is a good question. Let's remember the song: Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Pick up a Bible. Read the Bible on your Iphone. Make it a daily practice or discipline. And see if it does not bless your life.

 

So, why do you think that we do not read the Bible more? How can we change this and develop better habits?