Earth is filled with spectacular natural wonders and many of them are so common or small we pass by them each day without a glance or second thought. Vivid examples are the parachutes on the puff ball of a dandelion.
Recent discoveries by an international team of scientists reveal how these miniature aircraft can—under optimal conditions—remain aloft for miles. The dandelion seed’s aeronautical design is more efficient than any man-made parachute.
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Shifts in Bible Perceptions Fuel Changes in Morals and Life Choices in the General Public
⇨ Missions Box
⇨ Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, Extremely Low Percentage of Americans Hold Biblical Worldview: An Interview with George Barna
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Jerusalem Court Rules National Library to Keep Medieval Damascus Bibles
⇨ The Times of Israel
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This is the one-hundred-seventeenth lesson in author and pastor Mel Lawrenz’ How to Live the Bible series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here.
“Excuse me, sir, my wife and I are looking for work. Do you have any positions available?”
“Yes, one.”
“Oh, good. And how many people to fill that position?”
“Two.”
“Could you give me a job description?”
“Work the garden and take care of it.”
“Landscaping work? Wonderful. Anything else to it?”
“Yes, be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. “
Some job.
By Jeff Shinabarger
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. —Ephesians 5:25
Learning to love the purpose of your partner is one of the greatest gifts you can ever give. But this learning is a process. Even though André and I may be drawn to very different work, we can still be drawn toward each other. Sometimes love has a funny way of bringing two unlikely people with dissimilar passions together in a beautiful way. It is in loving each other, loving what we do, and loving each other’s purpose that a lifetime of true partnership is created.
What happens when we literally walk out our Christian life? What does our physical being have to do with our spiritual life? What does the Bible actually mean when it exhorts us to walk in the light, or walk by faith, or walk in truth? How did Jesus model walking as spiritual formation?
Bible Gateway interviewed Mark Buchanan (@markaldham) about his book, God Walk: Moving at the Speed of Your Soul (Zondervan, 2020).
Why do you say, “Three miles an hour seems to be the pace God keeps”?
Mark Buchanan: The phrase comes from a delightful, if somewhat quirky, little book titled Three Mile an Hour God, by the Japanese theologian and missiologist Kosuke Koyama. Three miles an hour is roughly the speed of walking. Koyama’s claim is that God moves at this speed, but we often miss him because we’re in too great a rush. Ironically, if we’re going to catch up with God, we need to slow down.
Despite repeatedly affirming confidence in their personal abilities to explain the Bible’s relevance, a 2020 LifeWay Research study reports 57% of Protestant churchgoers say they find it challenging to make sense of the Bible when they read it on their own. Even so, four in 5 express confidence in their ability to help others who have doubts about the truthfulness of Scripture (81%), difficulty accepting morals taught in the Bible (82%), and confusion over a Bible passage (81%).
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Regardless of how challenging churchgoers regard the Bible, they seem confident they can recognize its relevance to them and help others understand it. Nine in 10 churchgoers (90%) agree they can usually understand how a passage of Scripture can be applied to them.
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To Cope With Pandemic, Americans Choose Binge-Watching TV Over the Bible
⇨ RNS
⇨ Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, God and the Pandemic: An Interview with N.T. Wright
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Half of USA Churchgoers Admit They Have Confusion Over the Bible
⇨ Bible Gateway Blog
⇨ Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, Latest Bible-Related Research
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Nobel Peace Prize winner, former President Jimmy Carter is the editor of the new NRSV Simple Faith Bible: Following Jesus into a Life of Peace, Compassion, and Wholeness (Zondervan, 2020).
According to the publisher, Carter’s relentless desire for peace, compassion, and wholeness permeate the notes of this Bible. His decades-long Sunday School teaching ministry, public service, and humanitarian engagement form the basis of each Bible book’s introductions, contemplative essays, reflective quotes, and honest prayers, calling readers to a warmhearted, justice-filled life of faith.
This is the one-hundred-sixteenth lesson in author and pastor Mel Lawrenz’ How to Live the Bible series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here.
What is work? Some people think of work only as those efforts that result in a paycheck—work equals job. But who’s going to tell a dedicated college student that his or her studies aren’t work? Try asking a mother with two kids in diapers, “Do you work?” (on second thought, don’t do it unless you’re willing to take the risk of getting a wet diaper thrown in your face). It’s much too limiting only to call a job “work.”
What does it mean when the Bible says God’s plan for your life is to give you a hope and a future? Can you know his plan? Can you trust it? What is active dependence on God? What is God’s definition of good?
Bible Gateway interviewed Megan Fate Marshman (@meganfate and @meganfate) about her book, Meant for Good: The Adventure of Trusting God and His Plans for You (Zondervan, 2020).
Meant for Good examines the Bible verse Jeremiah 29:11, which is a consistent favorite verse for Bible Gateway users. What is the meaning of this verse and the verses that follow? How is God inviting us to practically trust him through Jeremiah 29?
Megan Fate Marshman: While Jeremiah’s words were written to a specific people at a specific time, this timeless truth stands: God knows the plans he has for all people. The verses that follow Jeremiah 29:11 are God’s invitation for us to trust him and his plans, all in his timing. Not only does God invite us to trust him, but he also specifies how. Jeremiah 29:11–14 provide us with what we need to develop a trusting relationship with God.
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