Mass reading
Note: This is the fourth in a series on unusual routines for reading your Bible. Be sure to read the rest in the series.
Unusual Routines For Reading Your Bible Series
Unusual routines for reading your Bible (Intro)
“3 verses-from 3 places reading
Mass reading
Mass reading
How to do it: Pick a place to start, any place will do. You probably normally read a chapter or a few chapters in one sitting. Mass reading takes a different approach. With mass reading (not to be confused with Mass reading, which is Catholic by nature), you read many chapters in one sitting, usually ten or more chapters.
Tip: Of course, you’d love to read that much, but it takes a lot of time, right? Not necessarily. For those pressed for time, here are three options:
1) Don’t use this routine. This series has many other routines that are not as time consuming. Assuming this easy copout isn’t a viable option…
2) Eat the time cost. Sometimes you need to make sacrifices. Cut out something else you’re doing – like eating for example. Assuming this difficult commitment isn’t an option…
3) Read faster/skip some words: This is a topic for many a page. In short, to speed read, try using your finger as a guide and follow it as you read, deliberately moving your finger faster than you’re accustomed to reading. Don’t worry if you have to skip some words here and there. You don’t remember every word even if you do read them. The purpose of reading is for meaning, not to say you read every word.
Why it’s helpful: As you’ll see from the example, this routine allows you to see connections between multiple chapters, which helps can reveal totally new main characters or themes that otherwise might have gone undiscovered.
Example: I first tried this seriously only about a year ago. I was reading through Exodus. The exploits of the Israelites start to get a little monotonous, particularly through the last chapters. Employing the mass reading routine, however, I learned something from the last ten chapters that I still remember a year later.
What I learned: A man named Bezalel and his sidekick, Oholiab, used their ‘normal’ skills to honor God. They crafted the utensils used for worship in the Tabernacle. They built the tables, the altars, the lampstands, and almost every other artifact that served in the Tabernacle.
The take away message for me:
a) Hone the practical skills I have so that someday God can use them for His purpose.
b) Build the house of the Lord.
God was able to use this simple mass reading routine to highlight these characters in one sitting. If I had continued to break up the chapters into smaller parts, I wouldn’t have noticed the reoccurring services these particular two men offered. I would have missed the example completely.
Serving Suggestions:
(1) Try it.
(2) Apply your new perspective. This is the more challenging one. Once you learn something new or see something in a new way, apply that perspective to your life. How are you going to live differently because of it?