My friend tried to read the Bible like 5 times and kept quitting in Genesis
So I have this friend who's been trying to get closer to God for a while now. Like genuinely trying. And every few months he'd tell me "okay this time I'm actually going to read the Bible front to back."
First attempt: made it through Genesis, tapped out somewhere in Exodus. Second attempt: got a bit further, died in Leviticus (as one does). Third attempt: Genesis again. Quit. Fourth attempt: didn't even make it out of Genesis.
At some point it became kind of a running joke between us. He'd buy a new Bible, or download a new app, or print out a reading plan, and two weeks later he'd sheepishly admit he'd fallen off again. And the thing is, he genuinely wanted to do it. It wasn't a motivation problem in the way people usually mean it. He wasn't lazy. He just kept hitting the same walls over and over again.
He'd start at Genesis because that's what you do, right? And by Leviticus he's reading about sacrificial laws and zoning out. Or he'd try to "just pick something" and end up decision-paralyzed every morning. Or he'd miss a day, then two, then a week, then feel too guilty to open it again. He'd ask people for advice and get 15 different answers — "start with John!" "read Proverbs!" "do a chronological plan!" — and freeze up.
Meanwhile this same guy has a 300+ day streak on Duolingo. He scrolls TikTok for hours. He finishes entire seasons of shows in a weekend. So clearly the habit machinery in his brain works fine — the problem was friction.
That's kind of when it clicked for me. The issue wasn't him. The issue was that every "solution" out there either dumped the whole Bible on him and said "good luck," or gave him a generic plan that didn't match where he actually was spiritually.
So I built him an app. I called it Olive.
The idea is stupid simple. You answer like 4 or 5 quick questions when you first open it — stuff like how familiar you are with the Bible, what you're hoping to get out of it, that kind of thing — and it builds you a reading plan based on your answers. If you're brand new, it might start you in the Gospels instead of throwing you into Genesis. If you're more seasoned, it'll give you something meatier. Then every day, you just open the app and read. One chapter. That's it. It's laid out in a scroll format (think TikTok but, you know, scripture) so you're not fumbling around trying to figure out what's next. Scroll, read, done. No decisions, no guilt trips, no 47-tab study interface. Just the chapter for today.
He's been using it for a while now and it's the longest he's ever stuck with it. Which honestly made me tear up a little the first time he told me.
Anyway, I figured if he struggled with this, other people probably do too. If you've ever tried to start reading the Bible and bounced off it, might be worth a look. It's called Olive and probably going to release it on the App Store soon.