Five great reasons to skip reading your Bible this summer

1. You’re on vacation!
   Vacations are for doing fun stuff: road trips, hikes, BBQs, water fights, and yeah, reading. It’s not that you don’t like the Bible, it’s just that after working hard all year, you deserve to relax with something a little, well, lighter…

2. You’re out of routine
   You had a good work-day Bible time routine going, but now summer’s here and all the habits start to slip. The late nights and sleeping in start to stretch, neither of which is conducive to keeping your regular Bible time going.

3. The kids are under your feet all day
   It was difficult enough trying to get time and space for Bible reading when the kids were at school all day. But now they’re at home. Making noise. And mess. “Quiet” time? No chance.

4. No one will notice
   Your small group has wound up for the summer, and you’ll miss a couple of Sundays because you’re on vacation. For once you can let a whole week pass by without opening the Bible, and no one’s going to tell you to feel bad about it. Au revoir, guilt!  

5. It’s too hot
   As God’s word itself says, “Our skin has become as hot as an oven” (Lamentation 5 v 10). He doesn’t expect you to focus in this heat.

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Ok, so none of these are good reasons to stop reading your Bible over the summer. Yet who can honestly say they haven’t ever used one of these excuses? Not spoken out loud perhaps, but in our own minds at least. And yes, some of them really do present a genuine challenge to our habit of regular Bible reading and prayer.

Who can honestly say they haven’t ever used one of these excuses?

But imagine if this summer were different…

Imagine a summer spent savouring the presence of your Saviour.

A summer when you slow down and take time to ponder the truths of the gospel—even if it’s just fifteen minutes snatched from the chaos.

A summer when, amongst all the fun and the family time, you keep lifting your eyes to thank the Giver of all good gifts.

A summer when you discover something new about the Lord.

A summer when you steal away to read God’s word, delighting in the knowledge that no one else will know about it except the One who matters.

A summer of real spiritual growth. A summer when you arrive at the beginning of Fall spiritually refreshed…

So set your mind to make this summer different! Friends, opening up the Bible is a spiritual battle. But it’s one worth fighting. Of course, you’ll fail sometimes. And that’s ok, because you’re not saved on the basis of whether or not you read your Bible this morning. You’re saved by the one who said, “Come to me, all your who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11 v 28). Don’t you want to spend time in his presence? 

And to help you, I’d like to suggest a resource: 90 Days in Judges, Galatians and Ephesians by Timothy Keller and Richard Coekin. These open-Bible devotionals are some of the most popular readings from The Good Book Company’s Explore Quarterly range, presented in a beautiful hardback format. Keller and Coekin help you work through these Bible books with carefully crafted questions, insightful explanations and helpful application prompts. 90 Days in Judges, Galatians and Ephesians is a great aid to going deeper into the riches of Scripture this summer, as you draw closer to the Lord and gain fresh appreciation for his love for you in Christ.