I was recently part of a panel discussion when a question came up that I have heard various times and in various forms. It goes something like this: How much time should I spend reading the Bible compared to the time I spend reading other books? The question usually comes from someone who enjoys recreational reading, whether in the form of just-for-fun fiction or feed-my-soul nonfiction. He usually finds that he spends more time reading other books than he spends reading the Bible, and this leaves him grappling with guilt.<\/p>\n
I understand the heart behind the question and appreciate the concern. Yet I can\u2019t help but believe that it reflects something of a category error. Why do we compare reading the Bible to reading books rather than, for example, compare reading the Bible to eating our meals or spending time with a friend or spouse? I have never heard anyone ask, \u201cShould I spend as much time reading the Bible as I do eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner?\u201d I have never heard anyone say, \u201cI feel guilty that I don\u2019t spend as much time reading the Bible as I do conversing with my wife.\u201d I don\u2019t know many who compare<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was recently part of a panel discussion when a question came up that I have heard various times and in various forms. It goes something like this: How much time should I spend reading the Bible compared to the time I spend reading?See AlsoWhen the Bible Seems Confusing, Lean in and Look CloseNo Matter How You Plan To Read The Bible In 2025 We Can Help12 Fresh Ways to Read Your Bible in 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":126497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[31],"tags":[303],"class_list":["post-126486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tim-challies","tag-articles","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biblicalcounselor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/getty-images-1GuwfXCqtVU-unsplash-scaled-2-1.jpg?fit=1920%2C1079&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=126486"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126498,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126486\/revisions\/126498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/126497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=126486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=126486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=126486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}