Currently we're reading the book of Esther at the breakfast table with our daughters. Sometimes it's a struggle getting through a chapter of the Bible when it's familiar territory or a particularly dry section. But with Esther, the narrative is so exciting, they're begging us not to stop at just one chapter. What a joy!

Why do we bother on the days when it's not a joy? Of course, it's because of our theological convictions regarding the importance of God's word. We want our children to know “from infancy [...] the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 3:15 NIV).

But practically, I think the inspiration for the goal of reading the whole Bible with our kids came particularly from Dave Martin. Dave penned one of the most moving articles I ever read in The Briefing (Issue #290). Here's an extract

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.

[...]

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!

Now Dave admits he did something a bit naughty:

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.

A mate of mine was a little concerned about Dave's use of incentives. Surely the reward should be in the task and not extrinsic to it! My mate is a good educator, but he had not yet had his own children. For me, with my kids a few years younger than Dave's, I was just overwhelmed with the desire to do something similar.

I think Dave Martin put steel in my spine for the task of reading the Bible regularly with my kids—not to imitate his method (we seem to read the Bible better together as a family), but to aspire to the same goal: to see all my children all the way through the Scriptures.

(By the way, we've found the Good Book Company's Bible reading notes—XTB for children and Table Talk for family devotions—really helpful. Those in Australia can still get some of their stock locally via Matthias Media's webstore.)

Recently, I caught up with Dave Martin briefly. (That's what reminded me of his article.) He explained that his oldest two boys have now worked their way through the Bible on their own through high school. He told me that although it was relatively easy with his first two children, the third had found it harder. Yet they are persevering.

He also reminded me of why he did it: he wasn't going too flash in family devotions. So Dave certainly wasn't suggesting he was the perfect dad. But I am so thankful he shared his experience on this particular landmark.

Here's one last extract from his article, providing us with a few tips that worked for him.

• Start immediately. You can do it today or tomorrow.
• Start out small. Just aim for one chapter a day. That's all we did.
• Set the goal before them: to read the whole Bible.
• Let them see their progress.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Give lots of verbal encouragement along the way. Lots and lots and lots.
• Celebrate milestones in a big way. e.g. first book, the New Testament, the Psalms, etc.
• 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.

Dave said to me recently, “As I look back over the years of raising my boys, this activity was the single most important thing I did with them”.

(Read the full article. Subscribe to The Briefing.)

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