Skip to content ↓

Five Great Reasons to Skip Reading Your Bible This Summer

Five Great Reasons to Skip Reading Your Bible This Summer

This sponsored post was prepared by The Good Book Company, publisher of 90 Days in Judges, Galatians and Ephesians by Tim Keller and Richard Coekin

Summer is here! And we’ve got five great reasons to skip reading your Bible this summer:

  • 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…
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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!
  • 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.

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.

But imagine if this summer were different…

Imagine a summer spent savoring the presence of your Savior.

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.


  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (November 2)

    A La Carte: Coldplay’s prayer in Melbourne / Zombies, Heath Lambert, and gatekeeping biblical counseling / Keep the Feast (a new song) / Stop playing the numbers game / Squandering security / and more.

  • Giveaways / Free Stuff Fridays Collection cover image

    Free Stuff Fridays (Ligonier)

    This week’s Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by Ligonier Ministries, who also sponsored the blog this week.  Yesterday was Reformation Day, when many Protestants celebrate the sixteenth-century recovery of the biblical gospel. It was while Martin Luther was studying the book of Romans that he rediscovered the doctrine of justification by faith alone. So, today…

  • Daily Liturgy Devotional

    Why Not Use a Daily Liturgy for Your Devotions?

    Trends come and go. Certain habits or interests rise for a time, wane, then rise again, often at unexpected moments. One of the recent trends I have found particularly surprising and also particularly interesting is the rise (or re-rise, if you prefer) of liturgy. This may be liturgy within formal worship services of the local…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (November 1)

    A La Carte: When a Berkeley feminist had three sons / The tragedy of IVF / What if I don’t feel forgiven? / Piper on how not to respond to suffering / What sola scriptura protects us against / Kindle deals / and more.

  • New and Notable Christian Books for October 2024

    New and Notable Christian Books for October 2024

    As October draws to its close, I wanted to ensure you know about at least some of the most notable books it brought our way. I did not see quite the quantity of new books I have seen in some previous months, but there were still some special ones. For each, I’ve provided the publisher’s…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (October 31)

    A La Carte: What is the Reformation? / More than a list of problems / A surprising story / More than songs of praise / Do elders need to evangelize? / Preach the gospel / and more.