My Devotionals

Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. (Romans 13:7)

In 1997, toward the end of his career, Fred Rogers was given television’s highest honor: a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Emmys. While the moment was supposed to be all about him, Fred characteristically made it all about others.

"So many people have helped me come to this night," he said. "All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. Would you just take along with me ten seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are? Ten seconds of silence. I’ll watch the time."

At this prompt, the room of Hollywood’s elite laughed awkwardly—until they realized Fred was serious. As Mister Rogers stared at the watch on his wrist, the cameras showed some of the world’s most famous faces silently honoring those who were responsible for them being in that prestigious room. 

It’s hard to watch this moment and not...

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 5:25)

When Lisa Hamilton opened her front door, Fred Rogers could immediately tell something was wrong. "I was praying, and I felt you needed some help," he told her. Fred had no idea that Lisa had become a widow that morning.

"I was really panicky," Lisa said of the morning she awoke, still holding her husband’s hand, to discover he had lost his battle with cancer during the night. But then, Fred appeared out of nowhere, wept with Lisa, and stayed to arrange the funeral.

Another time, Fred "had this very strong urge" to visit a marginalized friend he hadn’t seen in a long time. Toward the end of the visit, the friend said, "Mr. Rogers, did you know this was my birthday?" He didn’t. Explaining this seeming coincidence to a journalist, Fred wondered aloud, "Why did I stop in? If it’s mind reading, it needs to be called inspired mind reading."

I long to be as sensitive to the Holy Spirit as Fred was. And as ...

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. (1 Corinthians 3:6)

The pastor in the pulpit had just wrapped up what Fred Rogers called "the most poorly crafted sermon I had ever heard in my life." And yet, his friend beside him was wiping tears from her eyes. "He said exactly what I needed to hear," she whispered.

That terrible sermon? Exactly what she needed to hear? Fred thought in disbelief.

Later, he realized, "The Holy Spirit was able to translate the words of that feeble sermon to speak to the need of my friend…That experience changed my life. Ever since, I've been able to recognize that the space between someone who is offering the best he can and someone who is in need is Holy Ground."

Humbled yet emboldened by that truth, Fred consistently offered his best on the set of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and trusted the Holy Spirit with the rest. And sometimes he was blessed to see the fruit God was growing from his feeble planting.

Like the time he he...

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood. (1 Peter 2:9)

If neckties could tell tales, the one Fred Rogers is buried in would tell an epic one.

With a black-and-blue tartan pattern, it was the style traditionally worn by ordained Presbyterian ministers. But Fred Rogers was no pastor. He was the host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, a children's TV show that aired from 1968 to 2001.

Before he was famous, Fred was a relatively unknown TV producer on a show called The Children's Corner, feeling torn between the call to so-called "sacred" and "secular" work. So for eight years, he split the difference, working at the station every weekday while driving 30 blocks at lunchtime for classes at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

But somewhere along those drives between seminary and the studio, an idea formed within him: What if his career and calling weren't opposite trajectories? What if he was called to view his "secular" work on TV as his sacred ministry?

The idea was radical. And th...

For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Philippians 2:13)

So many AI conversations these days are pitting man v. machines. But that’s not quite accurate theologically. For the Christian, it’s not man v. machine, but God v. machine because we believe God is working through us (see Philippians 2:13).

While AI appears to be the supremely creative being on the planet today, it is not and never will be. Because only you and I have the Creator God dwelling in us—the One who made the human eye, the northern lights, and eight million species of animals.

That’s why we must resist the temptation to outsource our thinking to AI. Because when we do, we miss out on our most unique, creative, God-given ideas. And over time, we atrophy our intuition.

That, I fear, is one of the things most at risk of becoming extinct in our lifetime. Not gorillas, water, or oil, but God-given intuition which former Harvard professor Dr. Laura Huang defines as “comp...

All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. (Proverbs 14:23)

There’s a scene I love in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Harry, Ron, and Hermione have made diligent plans to break into the Ministry of Magic to steal an object that will help them save the wizarding world. Harry proposes they execute the plan. But Hermione says, “I don't know, Harry…There are an awful lot of things that could go wrong.” To which Harry replies, “That'll be true even if we spend another three months preparing…It's time to act.”

I’ve always been more of a Harry. But since the latest generation of AI tools entered my work, I’m tempted to be more of a Hermione. Why? Because AI offers an endless stream of feedback that, if I’m not careful, can lead me to trade my bias for action for a bias for overthinking.

For example, years ago I started feeding drafts of these devotionals to an AI chat app for feedback. But eventually I wasn’t asking one app for notes, but three. After missing...

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and how fathomless his ways! (Romans 11:33)

Charles Spurgeon once said, “There is no fool so great as a knowing fool.” In this age of AI, we are seeing a boon of knowledge applied foolishly and a dearth of wisdom applied biblically.

What’s the difference? I love how Billy Graham put it: “Wisdom is applying knowledge with discernment and good judgment; knowledge is fact-finding.” And the ultimate source of wisdom is God (see Proverbs 2:6). Which means that wisdom isn’t a cognitive capacity you can “scale up” with more data and processing power. It flows downward from God to human beings.

Non-believers discern some wisdom through God’s common grace (see Isaiah 28:24-29). Christians discern it through the power of the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 2:14). But technology can’t discern a thing. It is incapable of making judgment calls because there is no soul behind the machine. “There is nothi...

Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills—to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts.” (Exodus 31:1-5)

We’re in a series laying down some biblical guardrails for working with AI. Here’s Guardrail #2: Don’t use AI to abdicate what God delegates. 

There are certain tasks within your work you sense God has uniquely wired you to do. Call it your “vocation,” “calling,” “zone of genius,” whatever. But you know it when you see it.

Bezalel was called “to engage in all kinds of crafts” in the construction of the Tabernacle. I know God has wired me to write and communicate complex truths simply and practically.

Ephesians 2:10 says “we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepa...

You shall have no other gods before me. (‭‭Exodus‬ ‭20‬:‭3‬)

I'm using AI every day to do my most exceptional work for the glory of God and the good of others. But four years into the latest generation of these tools, I've seen enough peril in my own use of them to feel the need to articulate some biblical guardrails around how to use AI in God-honoring ways.

In this series, I’ll share five such guardrails that extend beyond the obvious black and white “don'ts” of AI (EX: feeding AI confidential information, using it to spread disinformation, etc.). These five guardrails will focus on the less obvious, far more common, and in many cases, far more dangerous ways AI can pull us away from God and others.

Before we get to the first guardrail, a very brief theology of technology is in order. Throughout Scripture, we see that God loves technology, which Bible teacher Tony Reinke defines as “the reordering of raw materials for human purposes,” which is exactly what God created us to do in ...

Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. …She sent for Barak…and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’” Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.” “Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh. (Judges 4:4-9)

Deborah is one of the greatest leaders in all of Scripture, a prophet and judge whose governance led to a rare period of “rest for forty years” for the nation of Israel (Judges 5:31). Today's passage shows us three leadership lessons from her extraordinary life.

#1: Deborah offered c...