Read the Whole Bible? Yes, and Slow Down Too.

At this time of year, I love inviting people to join me on the Bible Tour, a simple, steady journey through the whole Bible in twelve months. It takes about 15–20 minutes to read a few chapters each day. By this time next year, you could have nearly travelled through the whole landscape of Scripture.

Some people are wary of this approach. And to be fair, they have a point. Reading several chapters a day can feel like a race, or a chore simply to tick off your task list. We fear that speed flattens our engagement with God’s word, sacrificing depth as we skim past the parts that deserve attention. We worry that we might miss the voice of God because we didn’t pause long enough to listen. And what about the questions that inevitably rise as we read? What about the passages that unsettle us, and we want to think about more carefully? Isn’t it better to read slowly, savour deeply, and stop when something stirs us?

But this is a false choice.
You don’t have to choose.
You can, and indeed, you should, do both.

Why Read Slowly?

Slow reading grounds us in our relationship with God. A few verses, read prayerfully, can become a means of opening up conversation with God. We chew on them, we sit with them, we let them read us as much as we read them. These moments shape our imagination, form our prayers, and open our ears to the voice of the Spirit. This slow, attentive reading is indispensable.

Why Read Widely?

But reading the whole Bible gives us something equally important: perspective.

When we move through longer portions, we begin to see the grand sweep of Scripture, the great story that stretches from Genesis to Revelation. This is similar to what Paul calls ‘the whole counsel of God‘ (Acts 20:27). We start to recognise patterns, echoes, repeated themes, surprising connections. We see how the prophets prepare the ground for Jesus, how the letters of Paul rest on the soil of the Old Testament, how the whole narrative leads us to Christ.

Wide reading also introduces us to the difficult bits, the passages we would never choose if left to ourselves. If we only read the comfortable texts, we shrink the Bible down until it simply echoes our preferences. If we only read what ‘speaks to us,’ we risk mistaking our feelings for God’s voice. Reading widely keeps the whole canon of Scripture in view, the Scriptures that have shaped the Church for centuries and that continue to guide us in discerning God’s word to his people.

Of course, you won’t have time to explore every question that arises. But you can jot them down, return to them later, and then make them part of your slow reading, using them in prayer, or studying them in greater depth.

The Meat and Potatoes (or Wine and Beer) Approach

Years ago, a friend gave me an image I’ve never forgotten. He called it the meat and potatoes approach (or the wine and beer approach, but I’ll stay safe with the food metaphor!).

The potatoes are the longer passages, the chapters you move through at a steady pace. You may not savour every bite, but they nourish you still. They fill you with the broad story of God’s dealings with humanity. They give you a sense of scale, movement, and momentum. And if something catches your attention, if a line jumps out or a phrase nudges at your spirit, pause, make a note, offer a prayer, and then carry on. You can return to it later

The meat is the slower reading: smaller portions you chew on, ponder, and inwardly digest. This is where meditation deepens, where prayer grows, where you hear God speaking to you in your spirit.

Both kinds of reading are necessary. Both feed us in different ways. And both, over time, shape a well-rounded, Scripture-soaked life.

I’ve been doing both for years, and I’ve found that I need both. We thrive when we make room for both kinds of reading.

So Why Not Join the Bible Tour?

My encouragement is simple: do both.
Let the Bible wash over you in large sweeps, and also let it sink in slowly, line by line.

Drink deeply and sip slowly.
Get the potatoes down you, and savour the meat of the Word.
(And for the vegans among us… perhaps think of it as whole grains and roasted vegetables!)

So, if you’d like a gentle, structured way to read widely, consider joining me on the Bible Tour this year. It’s an invitation to encounter the richness, the breadth, and the surprising beauty of God’s Word, one day at a time. Keep a look out on this site for more details to follow in the coming weeks.