In an advice column posted on the Bowling Green Daily News, Billy Graham was asked what a person would miss if he lost interest in the Bible and failed to read it.
The reader admitted one of his “New Year’s resolutions was to read through the Bible.” However, as he read through the Book of Genesis, he struggled to “get interested in things that happened to people thousands of years ago.”
He then asked, “What am I missing?”
Graham responded that when people do not read God’s Word, it is a lost opportunity to learn more about Him and His purposes for one’s life.
“If we are ignorant of God’s Word, we’ll always be ignorant of God’s will,” reminded the preacher.
The Christian minister acknowledged that while reading stories of things that happened in the past may not be interesting for some people, there is a great way for readers not to be bored and lose interest.
“Instead of starting at the beginning (as we do with other books), I suggest you start at the center,” Graham said. He said it will be a good idea to begin reading the Bible with one of the Gospels, preferably the Book of John, since everything written in the Old Testament led to Jesus Christ.
“He is the Bible’s center; the Old Testament points forward to Him, and the New Testament tells us about Him. You can discover other parts of the Bible later,” Graham said.
In The Billy Graham Library, the evangelist also gave a sample reading plan for people who may want to finish the Bible in one year. The plan followed his suggestion of starting with the Gospels and to go through the whole 66 books in a period of one year.
Graham left another advice to the person who wrote to him. He said as one reads the books of the Bible, one should also seek God’s help and wisdom for a better understanding of the verses and Scripture so that anyone meditating on His Word will find its meaning and application in one’s life.
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