Daily devotion

TI not AI in the coming Storm

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According to a recent CNBC report, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, will invest 60-65 billion dollars in AI research in 2025. Add in Alphabet, Nvidia, Microsoft and Amazon and the scope of what lies ahead in Artificial Intelligence is unimaginable. Everything from our banking to our how our refrigerator works will be affected. Our children’s education, what we see on television, listen to on the radio or receive in the mail will be driven by forces far greater than any Madison Avenue marketing firm could have imagined even a decade ago. So, unless we plan on entering a monastery or joining the Amish community, we Christians need to determine now rather than later how we will respond.

First, let’s all, take a deep breath and remember that the beginning of wisdom, (True Intelligence) is the fear of the Lord. Our God, who with one word spoke light into existence, filled the universe with stars and created our each of our bodies with 30 trillion cells, is a lot smarter than any Artificial Intelligence anyone can come up with! Living for Jesus means trusting in Him, and bringing our problems, fears, and questions to Him every day, including every challenge the world throws our way. We don’t have to figure everything out. God already knows the future and He has promised an eternal kingdom to those who place their trust in Him.

Secondly, God is not surprised. In the last chapter of Daniel, God tells Daniel that in days to come, people will run faster and faster and that knowledge will increase. (Sound familiar?) But then God tells him to go about his business, assures him of His peace, reminds Daniel that as he takes a stand, he will be blessed. (Daniel 12:13 KJV). I am confident that this promise was reassuring to the aging prophet Daniel, but it is also great advice for us today. It is easy to lose our head, worrying about what might happen tomorrow, but we don’t need to worry about tomorrow today. We just need to focus on what God has given us for now. God knows what is coming and already has a plan in place. So, let’s trust Him as we do what He has given us today, and trust that He is smarter than anything the world will ever come up with!

Last, invest time, energy, and resources in people, not things. Jesus was far less impressed by Herod’s spectacular temple complex than He was by the heart a poor widow who gave two pennies into its treasury. Jesus allowed Himself to be arrested, stripped of His clothing, and nailed to a cross to purchase what mattered most to Him: the salvation of you and me! Let’s get our focus off of the latest gadgets being marketed to us and ask God how to follow the True Intelligence of Jesus Christ by serving hurting people in His name. Compared to the power of AI, the ways of God may sound foolish, but the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God and His glory can shine brightest through cracked clay jars filled with the light of Jesus Christ.

Poison Ivy

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So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! James 3:5 ESV

New England may be famous for Vermont cheese, maple syrup and Fall foliage, but one of our lesser-known products, and one which we have in abundance is poison ivy. It sports nice shiny leaves and lovely red berries, which are a favorite snack for birds, who gobble them down and then generously plant them everywhere. In today’s verse, the Apostle James tells us about a far deadlier poison than the one in poison ivy: That poison is found in the poison of malicious words. A single seed of gossip, whether through social media or in person, can destroy relationships, careers and sometimes even lives. The danger of gossip is that it spreads quickly, because, just like poison ivy, once gossip touches our hearts, we start itching to tell others. James says that evil words are like a tiny spark that sets an entire forest on fire. But in the same way that gossip spreads, words of grace can also spread, and in an even more powerful way, In Galatians, we are given the list of the kinds of seeds that God wants growing in our lives:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; Galatians 5:22-23a ESV

Whether we realize it or not, from the moment our eyes open, till we lay our head on the pillow, we will be planting seeds. Since there is already too much of the poison ivy of gossip in the world, let’s instead start planting words of love, joyful praises, peaceful phrases, patient encouragements, kind offers, good suggestions, faithful promises, gentle assurances, and self-controlled responses. These are life-giving words and will lead to a wonderful harvest. But be patient and remember that unlike the lightning speed of the spread of gossip, it takes a long growing season before we can reap a harvest of grace. So, before we say a single word this morning, let’s begin by asking ourselves, “What should I begin planting in my garden today?

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I Love Being Rejected!

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For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. James 1:3

If you are a writer, then you know that the most dreaded response from a publisher begins with the words, “Thank you for your submission, but…” We cringe because we know that those nice words invariably begin every rejection letter! However, if your first novel, article or poetry was jubilantly accepted by a large highly acclaimed publisher, then read no further. But, if like many of us, you have written several novels, articles, or oodles of poems and have little to show for it beyond a few meager acceptances and an inbox filled with rejections, then let’s see what the Bible has to say. In today’s verse, James, tells us that it is neither our acceptances, nor our successes that increase our faith but our tests. When our best efforts are challenged, just as heavy work pushes our muscles to the breaking point, so our rejections cause us to dig deeper and focus more clearly on our writing goals. They bring us face to face with the why’s of our ambitions, and the purpose of our message. Are we writing so that we can become popular, or is our true motivation to serve God and our readers? Rejection has pushed me to keep going beyond my frustration, when what I thought was a great poem or article, wasn’t something anyone wanted to read, or a publisher was willing to pay for. But to be honest, it has been my rejections that have motivated me to work towards becoming a better writer, a better editor and most of all a better follower of Jesus. So, I love being rejected! It is those wonderful rejections that have drawn me closer to the heart of Jesus: Who is The Word of God, and the best-selling message of all time!

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