Reading the Bible with my boys

Today, Friday, 20 September, 2002 is a great day. That's because today is the day I finished reading the whole Bible to my eldest son, Ben.

It was a long time ago when I ushered him into my office at home and said, “Let's start reading the Bible together.” He was just five years old and it was his first day at kindergarten. But we started with Matthew chapter one, a hard start indeed. From there we made our way through Matthew in pretty quick time. We ticked that book off and moved onto another one in the New Testament. He usually chose the next book to read. For ten minutes each day we basically read one chapter, talked about it for a minute or two and then prayed about it. This has happened at least four mornings a week during school term (and a bit in the holidays). We did it usually in the same place and the same time each day. After finishing Matthew, we made a chart of the whole New Testament and stuck it on the back of my office door and every day Ben would tick off a chapter. When we hit some heavy chapters in Revelation, I cheated. I shipped him off to some friends with his Bible in tow, and the dad there had to read Revelation 13. When we progressed to the Old Testament, we just used a bookmark and would tick off the books in the Table of Contents.

And so we came to today. Zechariah chapters 13 and 14. (We have done two chapters for the last four days because Ben was so excited at the prospect of finishing that he couldn't bear to stretch it out another week.) We left Zechariah until last because it's so hard to understand. Two paragraphs from the finish, I was choking with emotion. Reading about cooking pots in the last paragraph was a bit of a blur, and I have no idea what it means. But I did pick up a great statement in that last chapter—“The Lord will be King over the whole earth” (Zech 14:9). So we prayed about that. And today we ticked off Zechariah.

What a great day!

We once had a boarder living with us who said she could not remember a day when she had gone to bed without her dad reading the Bible to her and praying with her. I was gobsmacked. As a young dad, that comment made an indelible impression on me. How could a man do that? I knew this was a great thing to do, so I set about the above plan. I was convinced that I didn't want to read cut down versions but the real thing. We did the New Testament in the Good News Version, and with the Old Testament, we progressed to the NIV. I thought kids would miss things if they didn't read the real thing. They would miss the overwhelming sense of God's sovereignty over everything. They would miss the complete depravity of the human race. And they would miss his wrath and judgement against humanity.

I also wanted to develop a habit in myself and my boys. To be honest, this was partly out of a great sense of failure on my part to regularly and systematically read the Scriptures. But, also, there seems to be an absence of this habit in Christians, a legacy that previous generations of believers had but that we have lost.

So I thought, “May as well start young”. The other thing in the back of my mind was that, as head of the family, this was a responsibility that I could not fob off onto my wife, Jan, especially since we have all boys.

When it came to incentives and milestones, I did something that will be very controversial and that no-one would dare suggest: I paid him! When Ben finished Matthew, I was so pleased with his desire to read with me that I wanted to keep encouraging him. So I actually gave him $5. He was preoccupied with money at the time so, for him, it was a great motivator. But I also cautioned him that he wouldn't get paid for every book he read.

After six or eight months, I hinted that I'd give him something special if he finished the New Testament. And I did—this time $20. But, again, it was to say how proud I was that he was so diligent. That happened halfway through first class when he was six and a half. I also said there would be no more money.

About a year ago, as finishing the whole Bible came in sight, I dropped hints that I'd get him something really special: his own Bible. As it got closer, I talked about that more and more. He even reminded me that I promised I would get him “this special Bible”. Well, today he got it—his own Teen Study Bible (NIV), and he was so excited. It even has a chart in the back to tick off each chapter.

I have many failings as a father, but this one thing I have done by the strength of God: I have read the whole Bible to my son. I have two more sons to go, and by God's strength, I will do it again. Jake is about one-third through the Old Testament and Daniel hasn't started. Of all the things we can do for our kids, surely this one is up there with the best: to leave them a legacy of God's word, the habit of reading it and the experience of delighting in it. That can't happen in ten minutes on one day, but it can happen in ten minutes a day over six of their formative years. And I trust it can be monitored and encouraged over the teenage years (though I speak from ignorance and do not know the difficulties that lie ahead).

Thanks be to God for all he has done.

A few tips that worked for me

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• Start immediately. You can do it today or tomorrow.
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• Start out small. Just aim for one chapter a day. That's all we did.
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• Set the goal before them: to read the whole Bible.
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• Let them see their progress.
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• Make it a routine activity. ‘Reading the Bible with Dad’ is on our boys' morning routine chart. They get to tick it off each day.
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• Skip it on bad days. If there's tension between you and the kids, cut your losses. Just humbly lead them in prayer about the cause of tension.
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• Don't stress if you miss a week. Work may take you away for a week, as it did me. But you've got six years. You could try to make it up in the holidays—but, again, don't stress.
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• Give lots of verbal encouragement along the way. Lots and lots and lots.
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• Celebrate milestones in a big way. e.g. first book, the New Testament, the Psalms, etc.
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• Thank God every step of the way. Thank him for the delight that they take in it and for every single day you get to read the Bible to them.
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The letter I pasted in Ben's Bible

My dearest Ben

It has been a great pleasure and joy to read the whole Bible with you. I have loved every chapter and every day. Thank you for being so keen to read it with me.

This gift is for you. Within it are the words of true LIGHT in this dark and evil world and words of true LIFE in this world of decay and death. Not just any words, but the words of God himself. Take them with you all the days of your life and believe on his Son, Jesus, of whom they speak, so that you may have real life and have it to the full, my son.

With all my love always, Dad.