I read an article from LifeWay Research the other day that spoke of tangible benefits to daily Bible reading. They surveyed 40,000 individuals aging 8 to 80 about their engagement with the word of God. What was interesting about the research was what a difference a day makes when it comes to engaging with the Scriptures. Here is what the study found about people who engage with the Scriptures 1 to 3 times a week:

“The study indicated that when people engaged in the Scripture one time a week… there was negligible effect on some key areas of their life. The same result was true if people engaged in the Scriptures two times a week. The result equaled little to no effect. Three times a week saw a small indication of life.”[1]

This engagement level is the equivalent of opening your Bible on Sunday when the preacher delivers his sermon, going to mid-week Bible study, and reading the Bible one other time during the week. Which I think most of us would say is pretty good. From the data, however, that is not as good as we thought. But this is not what I found so interesting about the research. Note what happens if a person engages with the Word of God 4 days instead of 3 days a week.

The research found not a gradual improvement in one’s spiritual life but an explosive, exponential, rapid growth!

“A steady climb of impact would have been expected, but that was not the case. The level was basically stagnant over days one and two, with a small bump on day three. But when day four was reached, the effects spiked in an astounding way. The stunning findings included the following:

1. Feeling lonely drops 30%
2. Anger issues drop 32%
3. Bitterness in relationships drops 40%
4. Alcoholism drops 57%
5. Sex outside of marriage drops 68%
6. Feeling spiritually stagnant drops 60%
7. Viewing pornography drops 61%
8. Sharing your faith jumps 200%
9. Discipling others jumps 230%”[2]

What a difference a day makes! Imagine where you could be by this time next year if you worked on developing the habit of daily Bible reading. If you need help getting started, I suggest reading my short article Daily Bible Reading 2021. I offer some practical advice on how to make daily Bible reading stick and some observations from reading the whole Bible in 2020.

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1. 9 Tangible Benefits of Bible Reading for Your Church by Jeff Martin
2. Ibid.