How to Follow Jesus in Your Digital LifeSample

Up and Out

As so much of our lives become automated or increasingly curated, it is far too easy to blame tech as the central source of the problem and therefore assume it is the job of these companies to create all the moral solutions and fix all that is broken in the digital age.

Instead of going that route, choose to see that you are God’s unique image-bearer, which means you are a moral agent in this world and have moral responsibility for your actions. Remember, God created humanity distinct in the world and uniquely called us to a standard of living differently than the rest of his creation.

So, what is our moral calling in life as humans? Ultimately, it is to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matt. 22:37-39). Notice the direction of these commands. Up and out. This is a totally different posture compared to the ways of our tech-heavy world (and our indwelling sin), which orient us around personal autonomy and serving self, turning our eyes inward, that we might obsess over only that which concerns us and can make our lives easier or more convenient. In a curated world where everything we see makes us feel as if we are the center of the world, the Christian call is to lift one’s eyes up to Christ and one’s arms out toward the lost neighbors he seeks to find and the world he longs to renew. We must go from “down and inward” to “up and out.” This is our moral responsibility. This is your moral responsibility in this digital age.

Q: In what ways have you been spending more time in the posture of “down and inward” than “up and out”?

Q: What might you do to change this posture moving forward?