I posted this to my Instagram in January, this was shortly after my family and I had moved back to our hometown, and it was to share my new reading routine. Since then it has scaled down slightly, but it has been a huge blessing to my spiritual life. I got the idea from a Facebook post that The Gospel Coalition had done around this time.
The plan posted by TGC was fairly simple, and actually meant to help those who adhere to the reformed tradition to be able to read through John Calvin's "Institutes of the Christian Religion" in one year. Their suggestion was to simply read this book for 15 minutes a day and based on the average reader speed, one would be able to finish in less than a year. It is a brilliantly simple plan to follow along with, and can be found here.
As I read this, it occurred to me that this could be adapted to a daily routine. It occurred to me that I could read many other books in the same fashion, creating a theological devotion of sorts. And so, this is what I set out to do, I grabbed a handful of books I have been desiring to read and stacked them up (pictured above). Now there have been days that I missed, but generally I get to at least two of these books each morning (this does not include my bible reading).
It's pretty simple, I set a timer for 15 min. and read that book. All together it takes me a couple of hours in the morning, including my scripture reading, and I am finished. I have enjoyed it a great deal. In addition to this reading plan, I have incorporated Professor Grant Horner's bible reading system. It may seem like a lot of reading in just a couple of hours, but it is worth it. Granted the point is not to study in depth, rather to work through some great Christian teaching. And Horner's system is not meant to be a biblical study in and of itself, but you will read a lot of scripture.
The overall goal here with both plans is exposure. You are daily exposing your mind and heart to scripture, theology and Christian teaching. The purpose is repetition, to constantly be thinking about important biblical doctrines and to permeate your mind with scripture. The Holy Spirit can not help you recall what you do not know.
So, give it a try and read a book, to the glory of God.
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