The other day I finished Nate Pickowicz’s tremendous work How to Eat Your Bible: A Simple Approach to Learning and Loving the Word of God. This short book–about 135 pages counting the appendix–is a straight-to-the-point primer on how to begin to love the Bible.

As the subtitle suggests, the book takes a very simple approach to teaching about the Bible and the peripheral topics around it. If you’re a seasoned Christian, you may be tempted to ask yourself while reading it, “Is this book really for me?” That is like asking yourself, “Is the gospel still really for me?” Yes, of course it is.

The gospel is so simple a child can understand it yet so multifaceted and complex that the most learned theologians will never hit the bottom of its well. In the same way, Pickowicsz’s work shows us that even the most mature Christians need to be brought back to the basics–again and again. For the young Christian, his or her mind will learn many new things about God’s Word. For the mature Christian, his or her mind will be newly refreshed of the trustworthiness, authority, and sufficiency of Scripture.

Throughout the course of the book, Pickowicz continued to show us in different ways that the Bible is a book unlike other books. It is God’s Word. It is God-breathed. The words on the pages of the Bible is God speaking to us.

He also gets very practical in this work and it’s of much value to the reader, definitely the one who desires to read but doesn’t know where to start. He writes about how, though many Bible reading plans are fine, they make it easier for us to check the box and move on. We read a chapter and then forget what we read.

In his book, he advocates for the seven-year plan. This plan involves picking a book of the Bible and reading it over and over during the month that it becomes ingrained into your mind.

He also delves into semi-technical topics like how to properly exegete a biblical text and also to make sure we don’t put ourselves into the text or “over spiritualize” the text.

One of the best things about this book is, before he gets into the meat of it, he dedicates a chapter to praying. Why is that? Because praying before we read is of utmost importance. Pickowicz explains: “Praying is an essential component to Bible study–perhaps the most important part!” Praying before reading our Bible is a plea for help to understand. “God wants believers to understand the Bible!” We show him we feel the same way when we pray for understanding.

Friends, I know this book review was rather short–in line with the book–but please take the time, if you haven’t, to buy this book and give it a read. You will be blessed!