The Bible is the bestselling book in the world for a reason! It’s thousands of years old, it has stood the test of time, and the words in it contain life—abundant life.

It’s my favorite book in the world.

Here are a few sentences from the book of John to show why this is so life-giving to me. In these verses, two people see Jesus and start to follow Him:

They saw Jesus and they started following Him. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”

They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”

“Come,” He replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where He was staying, and they spent that day with Him (John 1:38-39).

I can’t believe it! They spent that day with Jesus! I’d love to spend a day with Jesus!

But then I realized I can spend a day with Jesus… anytime I want. He’s still alive and active in the world. And whenever I read His Word and read about what He did 2,000 years ago—I see what He can still do in my life today.

I love spending time with Jesus, and I want to encourage you to do it, too. Jonathan Edwards said this beautifully:

“I go out to preach with two propositions in mind. First, everyone ought to give his life to Christ. Second, whether or not anyone gives Him his life, I will give Him mine.”

Here’s a simple way to jump into reading the Bible, whether you’ve never read it before or you’ve read it many times.

Just open up to the Book of John. It’s one of the four gospels in the New Testament of the Bible. The word “gospel” means “good news,” and these four books were written to share with us the good news of Jesus by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—four people who followed Him and told the stories of what He did while on earth.

• Matthew was a Jew who wrote especially to the Jewish people.
• Mark wrote the shortest gospel—16 chapters.
• Luke’s gospel has 24 chapters and starts with the famous Christmas story.
• John was perhaps the closest to Jesus during His three years of ministry and gives a very intimate view of Jesus.

If you read a chapter a day from the Book of John, you can go through all 21 chapters in 21 days! Similarly, you could read the Books of Matthew, Mark, or Luke in under a month, too—just by reading one chapter a day.

By diving into one of the gospels, you can learn more about Jesus and watch as these words impact you like they impacted me.

I was on a bus to the airport in Chicago one day when the driver gave each of the passengers a pocket-sized Book of John. I thought it was unusual, but it was a private bus company, and this driver was passionate like Jonathon Edwards.

I didn’t know him, and he couldn’t have known I was a Christian, a pastor, and had read the book of John many times. He also didn’t know that I had just lost my wife of 23 years. But what he did know was that “everyone, everywhere, at all times has needs.” And He knew that the words in the Book of John were life-giving words.

I sat on that bus for the next two hours and read the Book of John, and those words came alive for me again. They spoke of eternal life, heaven, and an abundant life here on earth.

I rediscovered that I still had a purpose, even after losing someone so significant in my life.

Here’s an excerpt from some of my reflections that day on the first chapter of John:

I’ve heard people say that Jesus is all you need. I used to think, “How can that be? I’m human, and I need all kinds of things—food, water, friendship, intimacy, health, and finances.”

But then I remembered everything I have comes from Him. As John says in chapter 1, verses 3-4: “Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life.”

Now, when I hear people say, “Jesus is all you need,” I get it! Everything I have does come from Jesus: my late wife, my kids, my food, my friends, my finances, my health—they ALL come from HIM! Jesus really is everything I need because EVERYTHING comes from Him.

Is there something YOU need today?

As Jesus says, “Come and see.” Come and spend a day with Jesus! He has everything you need.