Reading the Bible Like a Novel

There are probably already around five Bibles in your house, if statistics are to be believed. In a room of ten Americans, nine of of them would raise their hand if you asked them if they have at least one Bible in their house. Yet only four would raise their hands if you asked them if they read once a week or more. Why is that? When I ask friends and people at my church or work about why they don't read their Bibles often, the answer that I get from people most often is that the Bible seems dry and not relevant to their lives. Could it be that at least some of them have genuine hearts to hear God and yet have gotten turned off by some aspect of the Bible reading experience?

I think it's good to have a variety of Bibles in your house. The different translations and layouts of the Bible can help us get a more complete picture of God's Word. Some Bibles are laid out like text books with lots of cross-references and helpful information, while others have a more minimalist vibe and contain only verse numbers. Some Bibles have done away with everything except the book and chapter headings, meaning that there aren't even verse numbers. Most Bibles that I have gotten to use have at least one of the following issues:

  • The type is too small to comfortably read
  • The book is too big to hold comfortably for an extended period of time
  • There are too many cross-references consistently break my train of thought
  • The paper is so thin that you can see the words from the page behind the one you're reading
  • The columns are so small that you feel like you're reading vertically.

Thankfully, I have discovered a few resources that have overcome these issues. My favorite translation is the ESV Bible, so I was overjoyed when I discovered that the dedicated ESV Bible App has a Reader's Mode that removes all distractions for me so I can focus on soaking up the message. The lack of all extraneous metadata makes the reading experience similar to that of a novel, which has helped me to relate more personally to the stories and challenges.

Cozy Up with the Bible as a Novel

ESV Bible App

To activate the minimalist Reader's Mode in the iOS version of the ESV Bible App to read the Bible like a novel, go to Settings and then turn on Reader's Mode (yes, it's that simple). I haven't used the Android version, but I'm sure it functions similarly. While you're in settings, try turning on or off the Red Letter, Justified Text, and Vertical Scrolling options to see what will work best for you. Also, like many other Bible apps, you can adjust the font size, background color, and even listen to the Bible as you read along. You can even follow along with the reading more easily by selecting the speaker icon on the bottom of the screen, then Options and then "Track Text with Audio". The app will then automatically follow along with the audio.

Here are the links to the two free ESV Bible Apps:

Another resource for people who like physical books is Bibliotheca: http://bibliotheca.co/. The promo video on the site quickly lays out the purpose and mission for Bibliotheca, so I won't go into it here. I personally prefer sticking with reading my Bible on my Kindle, iPhone, and - in a pinch - my current physical ESV Bible, but I know that many of you may of you may find this resource especially beneficial.

While all of these options are fantastic, there is a catch: No matter how tailor-fit your Bible is to your personality and habits, it will not mean anything if you read it with the right heart. I don't think that we should let aesthetics and our personal opinions be determining factors in whether we read our Bibles or not. When you see this wonderful book as God's word, you can look past all of the little annoyances and your personal bias and hear the perfect words of the Holy Spirit reverberating throughout it. There are people in other countries who only have a few dirtied pages of the Bible that they read constantly to hear God's words because they cherish it so much.

Here's the bottom line: Find a version and layout of the Bible through which you can hear God and then dive into a relationship with him.

Studying the BibleEverett Hilldistraction, reader, Relationship1 Comment