Jesus Among the Bots
Bryan and I were recently corresponding and he wrote something I found uniquely insightful, which I’d like to reflect on with you:
"It’s helpful to think about why Jesus wants to be told. He knows that in the telling it produces a change in us. What’s that Change? Maybe we can trust Him a little more. Maybe He cares more than I thought. Maybe He really understands me? The very act of us talking to Jesus, draws us to him. … [So] be careful about pouring out your heart to someone… Those things draw us together."
One relevant application of this has to do with a question that AI-bots raise more acutely than ever. It's been a question growing for years as our dependence on various internet search engines has grown.
What do we need prayer for? What do we need Jesus for?
Gone are the days where people had little access to information that wasn't already in their own heads. Gone are the days when it was impossible to learn something all by yourself, on your own, any time you wanted.
Just Google it, load up YouTube or social media, ask an AI-bot, and quickly find the answer to whatever is bothering you. You don't have to pray about it! Just… ask the bots.
But what happens to us as we grow more reliant on the bots? As Bryan observed: "Maybe we can trust [them] a little more. Maybe [I feel like they] care more than I thought." "The telling produces a change in us." "Be careful about pouring out your heart to someone" who is not trustworthy and who doesn't love you.
Often, our bot-usage reflects our deeper commitment to do things on our own, in our own strength, for our own ends. It encourages the illusion that we can face everything on our own. We can do it! Bots can help.
Is this healthy? What is this doing to us? What is this doing to our relationship with Jesus?
We need Jesus because we cannot type our question into Jesus. We will not receive an orderly ranking of top answers to our searches.
We will also not be allowed to care only about what we care about. We will not be allowed select an answer that seems right in our own eyes. We will not be allowed to act like suddenly we know enough, now that we have searched. We will not be allowed to forget that we need Him.
Proverbs 3:5-7, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil."
Jesus will not deliver what we want when we want it and how we like it. Rather, He will be for us what He knows we need when He knows we need it and how will be best.
What we need Jesus for… is to be Himself, with us.
We need Jesus to be our Lord, who interferes with our queries and redirects our "research projects." To be our friend, whose loving presence brings us peace amidst the swirling waves of conflicting answers the bots dig up. To be Himself, the most tender, most reliable, most capable and intelligent person any of us have ever known.
So much more than anything He's "for," Jesus is Jesus. And prayer, let us remember, is spending time with Jesus. Reading the Bible is spending time with Jesus. And Jesus is what we want, Jesus is what we need, Jesus Himself.
And so when we talk to Jesus first and most often, something changes in us. We trust Him more. We understand His love better. We see Him, glorious and good. And what no bot can give, we find in Him: love, worth, peace, wisdom and understanding, grace.
Experiment: before you press "search"—whether researching, shopping, or anything else—pause for a moment and remember Jesus. Talk to Him about what is happening. Ask Him what He thinks. See what happens. Try it for ___# of days. What do you notice?
Prayer
LORD, You tell us in Proverbs 3:5-7, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil."
This counsel does not exclude our searches online, I know that. But they have spent billions making it a reflex—and my pride takes it as a right I am owed, to search for what I want whenever I want.
But I am Yours, LORD. And in Your way I ask You to lead me. Let me not follow the Google or the bots. I do not want to go where they lead; I do not want to follow my own understandings nor be wise in my own eyes. I want the Good Shepherd to walk beside me and lead me home to You. Help me to slow down, to remember You, to acknowledge You in all my ways, to fear You. For in You I trust. In Jesus' Name.
Photo by Anastasiya Badun on Unsplash