The Providence of God's Gifts in Digital Babylon
God equips those he calls and sends, even into exile in Babylon and Digital Babylon. What are the gifts and callings God has given you?
You’re reading “Passing Through Digital Babylon”, a newsletter of insights and reflections from the digital empire while journeying towards the heavenly city. If that sounds interesting to you, please consider subscribing!
For the last installment, I wrote about “Where Has God Placed You in Digital Babylon?”. For this week, as I continue to chip away at a book manuscript, I am going to tackle the section immediately following the previous section, simply titled “The Providence of God’s Gifts in Digital Babylon”. Stay tuned for a programming note at the end.
Another way to discern where God has place you in Digital Babylon is to ask yourself: what are the skills, knowledge, and resources God has given me, and how might I use them in Digital Babylon?
When I was in college, pursuing a degree in radio and television production, the smartphone era was just beginning to take off. Many of my classmates had iPhones, but as we did our filming labs in the studio of our local PBS affiliate, we knew that our iPhones were no match for the high quality cameras and microphones that the professionals used. But almost a decade later, the gap between the phone in my pocket and the bulky professional cameras I learned how to use has shrunk immensely. Now, instead of having to go to college to learn professional videography or editing, an entire generation is getting their filming and editing reps through the same phone they talk to their friends on. As one industry analyst put it, the TikTok editor has effectively replaced industry standards like Adobe Premiere Pro for an entire generation of creative artists, and that trend shows no sign of slowing down.
Reading this, you might think that I am about to say that if you have a smartphone in your pocket, God is calling you to use it in Digital Babylon. To be sure, there is now an entire arena of creative communication that is driven by everyday technology that both endlessly distracts us and empowers us to be creative in ways that used to be inaccessible to most people. But let me be clear: even though we may live, work, play, and create in Digital Babylon, this does not mean God has gifted us equally in how we live, work, play, and create in Digital Babylon. Instead, we need to see where God has placed us in his body, and how that part of the body ought to conduct itself in Digital Babylon.
Paul’s admonition that “the body does not consist of one member but of many” (1 Cor 12:14) is a critical passage for understanding how God has organized his church to work and operate. But while we normally think of that passage as being about the church, we can also see this principle at work in the Old Testament too! Just as “God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose” (v.18), God called some of his prophets to prophecy a lot (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel) or a little (the minor prophets). Some prophets focused on Judah and Israel, some prophets focused on Assyria and Babylon, and some prophets focused on both. Some of the exiles were sent into Assyria, some into Babylon, and even some chose to flee to Egypt. Just as God has not called every Christian to serve as an elder, deacon, pastor, or evangelist, God did not make every prophet an Isaiah, or every exile a Daniel or Nehemiah. If everyone was a Daniel, where would Ezekiel be? If everyone was an evangelist, who would do the teaching? If every Christian on social media were just on Faithbook (yes, this was a real thing), where would the Christians on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok be?
In the same way, God has not called every Christian to live, work, play, and create in Digital Babylon in the same way - but for those who have been placed deep into Digital Babylon by God, he has given us what we need to glorify him as we bear witness to his Gospel. Maybe you have a strong desire to work with computers or technology - you find them fascinating and want to understand how they work. Maybe you have an inclination towards digital community, and enjoy connecting to people over social media or Discord. Maybe you have a craft you’re passionate about and want to improve on, such as writing, podcasting, graphic design, making videos, or some other creative avenue. While it’s possible that these desires and interests can arise from living under the shadow of Digital Babylon’s influence, it’s also equally possible that God has given you these interests so that you can glorify him and serve him in Digital Babylon.
What does it look like to grow those gifts? Maybe it involves dedicating yourself to training and education in your skill, or practicing your creative craft. Maybe it involves networking with others in your field, prayerfully asking God to put you in the role or organization that He wants you to be in to be an ambassador to a group of people who need to hear the Gospel. Maybe it involves taking stock of your current equipment and resources and committing to use them to declare and display the Gospel to your neighbors and nations. God does not call us to serve him in these ways, and leave us to scrounge up the resources or brute force the opportunities to serve him. He equips those he calls with the gifts and opportunities to fulfill those callings well!
And the good news is that if you don’t have those desires or inclinations, there is an equally good chance that God isn’t expecting you to glorify him in these ways. Not everyone is cut out to be an influencer-evangelist on social media. Not everyone will enjoy working with computers or other technology. Not everyone will care about creating digital media. God does not call every one of us to the same tasks, nor gift us with the same interests and opportunities to perform those tasks for his glory. But rather than insisting that all Christians do one thing or another, we ought to ask: what has God gifted you with, and if God has gifted you with skills and knowledge to live, work, play, and create in Digital Babylon, how are you going to steward those gifts?
Thanks for reading Passing Through Digital Babylon. Going forward, at least through the summer, I can no longer guarantee weekly posts, and I need to revise my goal downward from “weekly” to “as I am able”. Admittedly, it is frustrating that my time and energy for writing is being providentially hindered by other matters, but at the same time, if the Lord is calling me to tend to those things, I need to do so and let side-projects like this not get in the way.
Next time, I will begin writing on the chapter tentatively titled “Christian Identity in Digital Babylon”. Some of this will cover material that I’ve covered in my series on Chris Bail’s Breaking the Social Media Prism for Breaking the Digital Spell, and some of this will be new insight based on subsequent work for Mending Division Academy.
If you’ve enjoyed this piece, please consider subscribing and sharing with your friends or on your personal social media channels! And remember: together, all of us are passing through this temporary digital empire towards the celestial city.
Austin
PS: I’ll probably use Notes during this downtime, so perhaps I’ll see you there!