It used to be that I would buy a new Bible every year. This was partially because I tend to write notes and such in my Bibles, and partially because it feels good to start off the new year with a new “preachin'” Bible. But for the last three years, I haven’t bought a new Bible. That’s because for the last three years I’ve been using the ESV Journaling Bible Interleaved Edition to track how much of the Bible we read (and re-read) in the lectionary. ( You can see some pics here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CG4-EfApGDB/ )
Statistically, we read about 932 verses of the Old Testament (not including the Psalms) and about 3247 verses of the New Testament over the course of one three year lectionary readings cycle. This comes out to our reading about 4179 verses out of 33001 verses (again, not including the Psalms), that’s about 13% of the Bible. So in terms of a plan to read the whole Bible – three years in church doesn’t really get you there. There’s a whole lot left, especially in the Old Testament.
Of course, the point of the lectionary isn’t to read through the whole Bible. The point of the lectionary is actually to do something else. Those selected readings are meant to form us and shape us around the life of Jesus Christ. They are meant to be on-ramps for us to enter into the story of Jesus and see Him at work for us. They are meant to be a guide for us to become disciples, not just Biblical scholars. You can read everything in the Bible three times over, but it you don’t see how it assures you of your place in the Kingdom of God, then you’re a Biblical scholar but not a disciple.
That isn’t to say you shouldn’t read your Bible. You should. Honestly, we only cover 13% over three years in church. If you’re looking for our readings in church to do all the heavy lifting for you, you’re missing out on 87% of the Bible. But also, if all you do is listen to those readings on Sunday or if all you do is meditate on one verse a day – you can still be a disciple, because God has called you to be one, and has made that possible through the everlasting life of Jesus.