If you’re a Christian and you struggle with reading or studying the Bible and scripture, you’re not alone. It’s possible to do it and I have found 12 quick and simple ideas, hacks for busy people to engage with their Bible every day.
If you’re a new believer or just wondering why we should read the Bible, here are some benefits:
- You get to know God’s character.
- You get to know Jesus and his ways and his teachings.
- Learn how others may have worked through various life situations with God or without him.
- You can find helpful instructions from your creator on how to live, make decisions and how to interact with him or others.
- The Bible offers instructions on how God intended for us to live.
He designed so what better source for advice is there?
You may have a genuine desire to read and learn the Bible, but you also may have a genuine issue of time and fitting everything important into your day. If you’re reading this, your faith is probably important to you, or you’re at least interested in learning more about good faith habits. But our free time can be consumed so fast if we don’t prioritize growing in our faith and in our relationship with Jesus. Things like screen time, TV, chores, commuting, working parenting. Kids’ school sports… the list goes on and on. There are some legitimate things we all need to do, but learning more about Jesus and reading the Bible are legit too. So how can we do better?
The first thing we should do is take a serious inventory of how we spend our time. This is not to beat yourself up but to look for opportunities. Finding time isn’t about creating 61 minutes in an hour. It’s looking at our limited time and identifying which of those minutes should be used for something with more eternal significance. That means making a lifestyle change that might feel uncomfortable, but it’s a change with more life benefits than you could ever imagine. It’s a trade that’s really out of proportion in your favor if you choose to take action. Look at where you’re adding value to your faith and what’s taking away from your faith, taking away from your peace and taking away from your ability to love others.
Where can you eliminate things, or pause some things, and make some room for consuming scripture? Once you do that, you can figure out how to spend all that new found time. Some of you may be challenged with finding that time. You may be in very real, very busy seasons of life: young kids, active teens, sick parents, unusual work or family commitments. Those all can be… Incredibly consuming. If you need to find time, we have some ideas that can help.
Even if you can find 15 minutes a day to engage with the Bible and that is time you’re not spending with Jesus now… that would be a win. Let’s see which one of these ideas will work for you.
Commute time. You can listen to the Bible app in the car or even find devotionals or Christian teaching podcasts to listen to on a short, medium or long commute. Whether you’re driving, taking a train or walking or biking into work. This is also a great time to practice memorizing scripture. Check out our Good News at Work – memorize exercise, podcast episodes or videos, and get some help.
Waiting in line. Stores, the DMV, doctors appointments, kids’ sports…. How many times do you get stuck waiting in line for something? Rather than be annoyed, change that attitude and be grateful for some quiet time with Jesus. You can pray journal, read, or listen to the Bible devotionals or podcasts during this time.
Small Group. Find a life group, small group, Sunday school group, or whatever your church calls it. You can find a group to plug in to once a week, twice a month, or however frequent they meet. If your church doesn’t have a group at the time that works for you or for your Lifestage, you can check at a nearby church. Something maybe closer to work or closer to home. We’re all God’s family. It could be a fun adventure or a great networking opportunity. However you find your group, this is a dedicated time that you’re carving out to learn more about God and strengthen your faith. This one comes with a bonus of creating a community connection to other believers. The is God’s secret sauce to Christian growth.
Church Sermon. When you go to church on a Saturday night or Sunday, chances are your pastor is using scripture to support his message. Commit to a night during the week where you read the whole chapter of that scripture or commit to reading the whole book of that scripture throughout the week, maybe a little bit every day. Use the scripture given during the sermon as your trigger for what to study that week. What a great opportunity to revisit the sermon lesson. I usually take notes each week to help me stay focused during the service and to help me reference later when I’m thinking about what was shared. These notes can also serve as your study notes and it can serve as a chance for you to go a little deeper through journaling.
Flight time. If you flown lately, I’m sure we could exchange some stories on how we were forced to spend our time. Delayed flights, waiting to board, waiting to leave the gate, waiting the land, waiting for a connection and more. Instead of allowing the delays and waiting to bog you down, thank God for the opportunity to spend time with him. Use the time to pray, read the Bible, read sermon notes, listen to a podcast or a sermon. Journal or just rest in thoughts about Jesus.
TV time. There seems to be a streaming service for everything. I am amazed at how many different shows and movies there are and how often I find myself thinking that there’s nothing to watch. If you have these moments to use that as a trigger to go spend time with Jesus. Maybe spend 15 to 20 minutes reading, watching, or listening to something about the Bible. Many churches post videos of their services. You could watch messages from coast to coast or even around the world. Who knows… when you finish streaming content to learn and grow in your faith, you may find better things to watch with some of your new faith-based algorithms being picked up during your new watching habits.
Morning routine. Commit to waking up just 15 minutes earlier. So you can read journal, pray or even watch a Bible video. Spend the first part of your day with Jesus and watch your life start to change. Grab breakfast and grab a Bible and begin your day with something eternal.
Bedtime. Commit to going to bed 15 to 30 minutes earlier. Start winding down with reading, listening or writing about scripture from the Bible. Focus on a chapter a day and go to sleep thinking about Jesus and not stressing about the next day or replaying what happened today. We don’t recommend screen time at bedtime to make sure that you’re not turning on your brain when you should be settling down.
Lunchtime at work. If you don’t already have a scheduled time for lunch, block your calendar once or twice a week or every day to eat lunch and spend time with Jesus. Leave your desk and go to an empty conference room or office, a cafeteria table, close your office door or go to a common area of your building with seating and just read and pray for a few minutes. Taking some time from your busy workday will help you focus on Jesus. Talk to him about any stressful moments you may have encountered already.
Shower time. Chances are nearly all of us are taking some time during our day for some personal hygiene… I hope. This could be at night in the morning or both. This is time that you can spend with Jesus. Soap, suds, shampoo and Jesus! We put an Alexa device in our bathroom so we can tell it what we want to listen to hands free and with a head full of shampoo. Sometimes it’s Christian radio podcasts, sermons, Christian talk podcast, the Bible app speaking, actual scripture or the Good News at Work Memorize exercise podcast. Nothing wrong with a little worship time while we’re cleaning up.
Arriving early to an event. Are you like my husband, where if you’re not early to something you think you’re late or are you more in my camp of liking to be on time but not late? Well, if you’re riding together or you just arrive early to an event… why not use that time to spend with Jesus? Maybe keep a note in your phone that lists people or things that you need to pray about. If you’re going to be doom scrolling on social media while you wait for the event anyway, wouldn’t it be more productive to spend some time with Jesus or learn something about him?
Waiting in the car. A good trigger to spend time growing in your faith is any time you’re waiting in your car. You could be stuck in traffic, in a school pickup line, going through a drive-through or maybe you’re a passenger on a road trip. Focus on driving if you need to drive but some of these waiting moments could be a time to pray, listen to worship music or turn on a sermon or Christian podcast. And did I mention the Good News at Work Memorize Exercise episodes?
That’s it 12 ideas and just a few minutes, we all know how hard it is to balance multiple priorities so start praying about it. Ask for opportunities, ask for wisdom, ask for help on being disciplined and give yourself some grace. No one is perfect but we can keep trying. These suggestions are all about maximizing the time that you do have. If you did one of these suggestions for 15 minutes a day, that would be an additional one hour and 45 minutes each week that you spend with Jesus. It would be an extra one hour and 45 minutes of learning, growing, praying, and strengthening your faith.
Imagine if you did a few of these things each week. What would your life look like in a month, six months, one year? God isn’t looking for your performance. He wants a relationship with us. He wants our heart. If you have a busy life and desire a deeper connection to your faith and a better relationship with Jesus, find which suggestion works for you and just start. It’s worth it and with God’s help, you can do it.
