God and Google
I’m on a life-long guilt trip for not reading my Bible. I can’t understand why it’s so hard. Where do I start? What do I read? Do I ‘flop and pop’? Do I read all the way through? Take a single book and study it deep? Do I take a topic and read every verse about it? Or follow a guide of some sort?
Then there’s the question of circumstance. Some folks swear by reading early in the morning. Getting your day off to a good start with God. Others say reading the Bible at night helps press meaning into the events of the day. A lady in our small group once said “Reading the Bible at night is my way of getting to sleep. As soon as I start, Satan sends his demons who’d rather see me sleep than study. They knock me right out!”
Let me offer a different approach. Google.
Instead of cramming God into a time slot, try turning to Him throughout the day. When you face a tough situation or when you get a little victory or when you feel grateful for something, Google what you’re thinking or feeling. Type in a fragment of Scripture and it’s amazing how often Google will pop the full Scripture passage. Yeah, sometimes you get junk. But usually, Google takes me to biblegateway.com or biblehub.com and I find the full verse. With one click, I can read it in any translation. And God can speak from His Word specifically to what I’m facing or feeling.
Sometimes, I’ll type in “What does the Bible say about _________?” That will take me to an article or book or sermon which includes a Scripture reference. I go there and I’m in His Word. I’m on point, seeking His wisdom minute by minute, issue by issue.
And if you’re not thinking about a specific issue, Google “The book of John” or “The book of Proverbs,” click through and start where you are. It’s that easy.
In Jesus Calling, Sarah Young hypothesizes Jesus saying “Walk peacefully with me through this day. You can walk as close to me as you choose.” God’s not going to force Himself onto your ‘radar screen’, onto your calendar or into your mind. You choose where you turn for guidance and what to do when God comes to mind. You can turn back to what you were doing and write Him out of the moment. Or you can pray for a minute, turn to His Word, and find peace and direction you didn’t expect.
The internet is like money. It’s amoral. It can be used for good or for evil. For God or for ourselves. We get to choose.
When there’s a pause in your day, pray. If God brings something to your mind, Google it. Find the Scripture He has for you and thank Him for staying so close.
Question: Will you use Google and other web tools to move toward God or away from God? Tell us what you think here!
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Responses (4)
As I read this to my wife this morning, while we were drinking our coffee together, she said, “That’s right up your alley”. As with many other thing; she’s right.
I’m a pretty big advocate for Google. I founded a technology start-up here in Atlanta, GA that has a very big partnership with Google. So much so that I’m a Glass Explorer who’s spent that last 4 months gaining a lot of attention because of this device I’m wearing on my face. The great thing about it is the conversation starts with Google, and ends with God.
There’s currently only 8,000 people in the world with Google Glass. God had a plan to bring two of us from the state of GA together. In short, we’re taking my company, combining it with market research in the agriculture industry, providing use cases to develop apps for Glass that will assist farmers, dealers, crop scouters, etc. The end of our mission is to use Google and it’s mass amount of capability, to leverage the sharing of education, technique, and methods for sustainable farming to children in Kenya, Tanzania, and Guatemala. Currently we’ve captured the attention of companies like John Deere, DuPont Pioneer, and others.
I use the Google Now app on my iPhone for searching bible versus or even searching the blogs I follow, (such as this one). We’re definitely about using amoral world of technology for good; especially Google. Hopefully, we can spread the Word.
I really like using gotquestions.org for specific questions and to browse through different biblical topics I’ve never read before.
Regi-
Thanks for a much needed breath of fresh air. Though I grew up in a Christian home (though rife with dysfunction) and a great church that was solid and taught the word faithfully, I’ve come to realize in the past few months how huge a role guilt played in my spiritual formation. So much so, that turning that recorded message off and walking in the freedom of friendship with Christ has often felt wrong, irresponsible and selfish. I’ve been amazed how comfortable I had become with the guilt of doing this or not doing that.
I do not spend a lot of time with my nose in the word. But God occupies large tracts of my thought life. Jesus is always close to mind. The word comes out in other conversations. And I do Google scripture fairly often – but for some bizarre reason have felt like a slacker whenever I do. I have a feeling that the enemy’s accusing voice is so familiar to many of us that we’ve come to confuse it for our own, or worse, God’s.
The truth is, God’s word is alive, dynamic and available to accomplish his purposes however, whenever, wherever and in whatever medium is available. Thanks for the reminder to dive in wherever the water’s flowing.
Another very cool, useful sight is https://scriptive.org/ Check it out!