Recently I started a Bible reading plane via the You Version app on my phone.  At first I was doing great. I had the best of intentions. I wanted to read it cover to cover in a year and I chose the version I thought would give me a good balance, a section from the Old and a section from the New Testament each day.

I cruised through Genesis……then came Exodus. I started to lag behind with the book of Numbers. And I got really, really bored. Oh, the endless rules and regulations, the sacrifices. It was just too much.

I started to skip over whole sections. I thought….”I have read all this before.”

Then I got behind for days at a time.

I found the section called “Catch me up.” You task-oriented folks will know what I am talking about. I hated to have “unchecked boxes” and unfinished sections.

You all probably know where I am heading with this already.

Yup, I had succeeded in making my daily Bible routine into nothing more than a religious ritual.

I made it just another thing on the To Do list

I had succeeded in virtually squeezing the life right out of the Word. I had made it as dry as the toast of all the rules and laws that had bored me to tears in the Old Testament.

It started out as a Spiritual discipline and ended up being something that made me feel fatigued and like a failure.

So I quit my Bible plan, and now I am back to reading the life back into the Word. I feel the fresh stream flowing with life infused with the Holy Spirit again.

I think the reading plans are great, mind you, and I love the You Version on my phone. I just felt the Lord asking me why I was making it something He never meant it to be.

An obligation

So now I am back to reading for the right reasons, out of a sincere love for God and wanting Him to know how I value the words He penned just for me, for you, for all of us.

And I feel the difference.

Who but God goes up to heaven and comes back down?
Who holds the wind in his fists?
Who wraps up the oceans in his cloak?
Who has created the whole wide world?

What is his name—and his son’s name?
Tell me if you know! Every word of God proves true.
 He is a shield to all who come to him for protection. Proverbs 30:4,5