At last the final post on reading the Bible: How much of and how often you should read the Bible. We have great freedom in this respect. The Bible itself doesn't give us strict rules. Rather, its self-description as "breathed out by God" (2 Tim. 3:16), "a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Ps. 119:105), and so forth reminds us what a treasure it is. Once we see how precious it is we naturally want to avail ourselves of its riches.
In other words, because the Bible is what it is we should be reading it with consistency and intentionality. Every day if possible.
But how much of the Bible should you read at one time? I would recommend going in one of three directions. First, you could read for breadth. A great discipline (which I confess never to have done) is to read the Bible through in one year. This comes out to something like four chapters a day. But rather than reading the chapters consecutively (which would probably burn you out somewhere around the latter half of Exodus) read from various parts of Scripture, including both Testaments. The most well-known and time-honored scheme is the M'Cheyne plan, named after the 19th century Scottish pastor Robert Murray M'Cheyne. This plan takes you through the Old Testament once and the Psalms and New Testament twice in one year. The chapters assigned on one day tend to have theological connections so that you can get a feel for how the Bible fits together. If you want some helpful guidance along the way as you follow this plan see D. A. Carson's For the Love of God vol. 1 and 2, which is also available in blog form.
Second, you could read for depth. This means taking a smaller chunk of Scripture and mining it for all its riches. In high school a pastor took me through the book of Philippians in which we would privately read one section once a day for an entire week and then meet to discuss the passage. Needless to say I got to know Philippians really well. I'd highly recommend this type of study.
Third, you could memorize Scripture. Currently I'm memorizing the book of Philippians with a friend using a very helpful memorization method that you can find here. Memorizing Scripture is hard work but worth the effort. If you want the Bible to flow through your veins then this is a discipline well worth devoting yourself to.
Whether you read for breadth, depth, or choose to memorize Scripture depends on various factors. Sometimes a change in routine is helpful, so if you've been reading for depth for a while than maybe you should read for breadth. Or sometimes where you are personally might influence your decision. If you're a new Christian I'd recommend reading for breadth to get a taste of all the Bible has to offer. Someone who's more mature might want to consider memorization.
There are no hard and fast rules, but I would caution against two errors. Beware of legalism in your reading. Many of us tend to think that the act of reading the Bible in itself is what makes us holy. Similarly, we read in order to check that task off our list. It becomes something to get done. Don't fall into that trap. Second, beware of not having discipline. Some people who want to avoid legalism go in the opposite direction and have no discipline at all in the reading plan. Which means in effect that they hardly ever get around to actually reading their Bibles. Discipline is different from legalism.
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