What do you keep track of?
People keep track of calories, expenses, water consumption, sex, bills, medications, vacation time, chores, taxes. Why do we record these things? When life is complicated, it’s easy to forget (particularly as we get older), and there are often serious consequences when we can’t remember what we have and haven’t done.
Things that are important you keep track of.
For the past four years I’ve been using a fitness tracker (first a Fitbit, then a Garmin watch) to help me record my steps, my runs, my heartbeat, my workouts. A few years ago, it seemed like no one had fitness trackers, but I was in a meeting a few days ago, and I looked around and the majority of the people were wearing some type of tracker. Why do I have a tracker? It is important to me to know how much exercise I am getting.
Things that are important you keep track of.
In my last blog, I wrote about reading the Bible slowly, one chapter a day. Here, I’m going to encourage you to “Keep Track” as you read the Bible.
For most of my adult life I would randomly pick a part of the Bible to read next in my daily devotions. I would feel like reading Mark, then Exodus, then 2 Timothy (my favorite books). I would continue this cycle for a while until I thought, I think it’s time for me to go back and read Mark, then Exodus, then 2 Timothy. Strangely, I never felt like reading Leviticus, Nahum, or Jude.
In my optimistic moments, I would rationalize that I had probably read through the whole Bible in its entirety in my random Bible reading plan. But in my more realistic moments I realized that the odds of me randomly completing the Bible were the same as winning the lottery. It is important to read through the whole Bible if you believe all Scripture is inspired and profitable for teaching.
Things that are important you keep track of.
About 6 years ago I started to keep track of which parts of the Bible I’ve read. I decided I didn’t need a high-tech solution to this problem. A piece of 8.5″ by 11″ paper listing the 66 books of the Bible would suffice (see image). After I finish a book, I record the month I complete it. To decide which book to read next, I just find one I haven’t read for a while. It took me about 5 years to finish.
There are 1189 chapters in the Bible. If you read one a day (and you keep track), you should finish the Bible in 3.25 years. If you are young, you could read through the Bible 10-15 times over the course of your life.
I know there are apps for keeping track. But I’ve decided to not use my phone during devotions or prayer times because it is too easy for me to get sucked into emails, news, sports, youtube, or other temptations. Perhaps you are better at resisting temptation than I?
I also don’t like using devotional guides that direct you through the Bible because it is easy to spend more time on the fluff (the side bars, the personal stories), so you don’t actually spend much time reading the Bible. Pure, unadulterated Scripture is my preference.
I would be happy to email anyone (dlamb@biblical.edu) my Bible Tracking chart. I folded mine in half and I keep it in my devotional Bible, so I know where it is.
There are a lot of ways to record what you’ve read, but figure out a method that works for you, since…
Things that are important you keep track of.