Read Small
- Bruce Nichols
- Mar 18
- 2 min read
Every January, I have seen new ideas about how to read the whole Bible in a year and many of these reading programs have you reading at least one chapter a day from three different areas of the Bible such as Genesis, Psalms and Matthew. If these reading plans work for you, then keep going but for many people, they feel overwhelmed or that this approach is not effective for them.
I recommend that you "read small" meaning instead of reading multiple chapters and having no clue what you just read, read a section a day and spend time with it to learn what it means and how it applies to you. Many translations have the scripture grouped in sections with a heading above it helping you identify the topic of that section. For example, here is what you find in Matthew 12:33–37 (English Standard Version)...
A Tree Is Known by Its Fruit
33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.
34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.
36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,
37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
First, you read the passage and then you start asking questions such as...
Who was speaking and who was that person speaking to?
What was that message supposed to mean to the people who were receiving that message?
How does this section connect with the rest of this book? And how does this section connect with the rest of the Bible?
How am I supposed to respond to this section of scripture? What am I supposed to know or do because of this passage?
In addition to those questions, I would encourage you to use a Study Bible or online commentaries to help you understand what you just read. If you have a Study Bible such as the MacArthur Study Bible, you would see notes like this...
"12:36 every careless word. The most seemingly insignificant sin—even a slip of the tongue—carries the full potential of all hell’s evil (cf. Jas 3:6). No infraction against God’s holiness is therefore a trifling thing, and each person will ultimately give account of every such indiscretion. There is no truer indication of a bad tree than the bad fruit of speech (vv. 33, 35). The poisonous snakes were known by their poisonous mouths revealing evil hearts (v. 34; cf. Lk 6:45). Every person is judged by his words, because they reveal the state of his heart." [MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Mt 12:36). Thomas Nelson Publishers.]
By reading smaller sections of scripture, you may discover that you are learning much more from what you are reading and when you know more, you can obey God much more consistently, right?
