After you have read Luke, you might like to read the Gospel of John.  John tells the same story, but you will note that John tells it in a very different way, and the two complement each other. 

After you have read these, you might want to flick back to the very start of the Bible and read Genesis. This is the Biblical account of the beginning of the world as we know it, and deals with the relationship between God and people. It contains lots of the stories from the Old Testament that you may have heard of before. If you find it captivating, the next book – Exodus – continues the story.

After Genesis and Exodus plus two of the Gospels, you will be beginning to understand the nature of why Jesus became a man, and why we believe his death and resurrection is of vital importance to those who choose to believe in him.  You may then want to return to the New Testament and read the Book of Acts (this details the actions of the disciples after Jesus died, and introduces the reader to Paul, who goes on to write much of the rest of the New Testament himself). After Acts, read the rest of the New Testament.

If you want to quickly read something short, you might like to delve into the Book of Psalms. These are songs written to God. Some of them are written in praise, some in lament, some in despair, some in anger. They are ancient reflections of our own emotions and questions of God.

If you get this far, you will have read more of the Bible than most people!

This often has beautiful text, but the problem is that it is written in Elizabethan English. The Bible is a complicated book, so you may wish to choose a version that is translated into more modern language, which is easier to read. Versions such as the NRSV, NIV or the Good News Bible are good options, and their text is freely available online. The meaning doesn’t change in newer translations, just the language.