Since the Bible is a complete set of Christianity’s founding documents, it only makes sense to formulate a plan for reading the Bible with this foundational fact in mind. How does one go about constructing a Christ-centered reading plan? By giving primary attention to the New Testament. It doesn’t speak more about Jesus Christ than the Old Testament does, but it does speak more explicitly about Jesus Christ than the Old Testament does. And, in fact, the New Testament explains much of the Old Testament to us. Therefore, I propose a reading ratio of New Testament reading to Old Testament of two to one.
Leaving aside momentarily the question of what to read, let’s talk about the quantity and frequency of reading. I suggest each person read the Bible a minimum of once a day for about 15 minutes. Adding another 15 minutes for reflection and prayer will mean a personal devotional time of about 30 minutes a day. I do not see how anyone can live a life devoted to Jesus Christ on less than this. (It wouldn’t make sense to ask “Give us this day our daily bread” and then not allocate sufficient time to eat it.)
Returning now to the question of what to read and apply it to this time arrangement, I suggest a person read three Bible chapters a day – two from the New Testament and one from the Old Testament. On average, this will mean reading about 100 words per minute, which is about half the rate of an average reader. We should allow for slower reading of the Bible because is an ancient text and because its subject matter calls for more thoughtful reading.
For a fuller explanation, see A Christ-Centered Bible Reading Plan: Expanded Explanation.
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The Duty of a Man 