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.
I understand the heart behind the question and appreciate the concern. Yet I can’t 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, “Should I spend as much time reading the Bible as I do eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner?” I have never heard anyone say, “I feel guilty that I don’t spend as much time reading the Bible as I do conversing with my wife.” I don’t know many who compare the time spent reading Scripture with the time laboring for their daily bread. And I think it’s worth asking why that is.
I understand that reading the Bible involves opening a book and reading its words, yet devotional Bible-reading is not like reading Tom Clancy or John Piper or anyone else. Reading the Bible is relational as much as informational. It is not merely reading words from a page or from a screen, but encountering the words of God. When we read the Bible, whether through reading or hearing, we are encountering the voice of God. God speaks through his Word and we speak back to him in prayer. Hence, Bible-reading is relating to God. It is of a different category than reading a book.
The reason I shy away from the comparison between reading the Bible and reading other books is that it makes too much of other books and too little of the Bible! Now, I don’t disagree that if you spend five minutes reading the Bible and seven hours reading novels (or watching TV or swiping through Reels) you may need to consider whether you are truly taking hold of the privilege God has given to you to know him and relate to him. But I also don’t see that there is any clear and obvious comparison to be made between reading Malcolm Gladwell and reading the Bible.
What might be more helpful questions to ask? Perhaps something like this: Am I putting enough effort into fostering my relationship with God that my life proves he is my highest priority? Am I spending enough time with God that I can say I truly know him? Am I giving sufficient time that I can say that I am able to relate to God as a friend relates to a friend? In short, am I giving God the opportunity to speak to me through his Word—and to speak to me enough to shape my mind, heart, and actions?
Am I spending enough time with God that I can say I truly know him?
If we are going to ask questions like these, we may need to consider that God has made us all different. We have different lives, different responsibilities, different schedules, and different amounts of time available to us. We also have different relational makeups, so that one person needs relatively little time with another person to be confident in their relational connectedness, while another may need much more. This means there is no formulaic answer to the question of “how much time?” Just as God doesn’t tell us to compare book-reading to Bible-reading, he doesn’t assign a particular amount of time. We have freedom in these things—a joyful freedom to build and foster a relationship with the God who made us, the God who loves us, and the God who so graciously loves to relate to us.
