My Devotionals

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...

One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. She said to her husband, “I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever he comes to us.” (2 Kings 4:8-10)

The Shunammite woman in today’s passage shows us a model of hospitality that is both unreasonable and unexpectant. 

First, let’s look at how unreasonable her act was. This woman built a room in her house for Elisha, the traveling prophet, which is extraordinary on its own. But then she filled the room with a bed, table, chair, and lamp—everything Elisha would need to do his work on the road. The woman essentially built Elisha an ancient home office. That is unreasonable.

But her hospitality was also unexpectant. She did it expecting nothing in return. Picking up in 2 Kings 4:13, Elisha ...

His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings. (1 Samuel 25:3)

After being introduced to Nabal and Abigail, we learn that David, God’s anointed future king, came to Nabal with a request for compensation after his men had faithfully protected Nabal and Abigail’s sheep and servants. But Nabal refused. So David took 400 of his men armed with swords to confront the “surly” man.

One of the servants came directly to Abigail saying, “Disaster is hanging over our master [Nabal] and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him” (1 Samuel 25:17).

Nabal built a culture in which his team could not talk to him. But Abigail created her own culture with the team that welcomed news—even news of doom—which allowed her to masterfully deescalate the conflict with David (see 1 Samuel 25:18-42).

There’s a lesson embedded in there for you today: Great, godly leaders create cul...

Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah….When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, “It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.” (Genesis 29:30-32)

With Mother's Day right around the corner, I want to spend the next few weeks studying some of the working women of the Bible and what they can teach women and men about our own work today.

Before we look at the women in this series who built businesses, led armies, and negotiated with kings, I want to start with Leah: a woman whose primary work was raising children. Because if we're going to truly talk about faith and work, we can’t ignore the fact that some of our hardest, most consequential work is the work of parenting. And Leah has something to teach every worker—paid or unpaid—about the most dangerous trap in...