Digital Age Discipleship: Into Whose Image Are We Being Conformed?

Technology shapes us and our culture in more ways than we realize. And it may be shaping us after an image that we don’t truly desire. Too often we have an idea of what we want our lives to look like but then we fail to ask whether a new technology will help us lead that kind of life or not. As a result, we’re being catechized by technology itself and by the information that utilizes technology as a conduit, even if we don’t consciously want that sort of catechesis. Technology, in a sense, disciples us. The only question is, Into whose image are we being conformed and who is our teacher?

Technology doesn’t determine our future, but it also isn’t silent; technology is far from neutral. . . . We must understand this shaping better, because it will happen whether we recognize it or not. . . . Technologies are shaping us. And shaping people, after all, is just another way of talking about discipleship.¹

Do we understand that our technology is shaping us, and more importantly, is it shaping us in a way that we are OK with? Do we understand how we’ve been conditioned and desensitized by the messages of the digital media that we consume every day? J.V. Fesko encourages us to ask, “How is our use of technology shaping the way we live and think, and what is the impact upon us as we live the Christian life?”²

Much of the digital technology we consume is designed to get us to consider the here and now. “Look what just happened ten thousand miles away from you. This should be at the forefront of your mind!” On the other hand, the means of grace are divinely designed to get us to consider the eternal. “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col. 3:2). Social media platforms are designed to maintain our scrolling habits so that we keep scrolling to the next attention-grabbing post, whereas the means of grace are designed by God to singularly maintain our attention on Him. Our myopic view of time requires broadening. We must resist the all-too-easy temptation to allow the world to set our watch and determine what’s worthy of our time and attention. Not every time-saving device helps us make the best use of the time (Eph. 5:15–16). We need to see time from God’s perspective. Not comprehensively and exhaustively, of course, but redemptive-historically or eschatologically. Peter reminds us that “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness” (2 Peter 3:8–9). Since we are acclimatized to assume that the quick is the certain, we, too, can unwittingly misinterpret God’s providential timing. But “the coming of the Lord is at hand,” James tells us (James 5:8). Therefore, we are to be patient and establish our hearts. We are to view this “light momentary affliction” as preparatory for the incomparable and eternal weight of glory that awaits us, “as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:17–18). Paul goes on:

For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. . . . For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. (2 Cor. 5:2–5)

Do you see what Paul is doing? He is reorienting the Corinthian Christians’ watches. He is drawing on the eschatological promise of God to inform their current situation so that, rather than being conformed to the world, they might be transformed by the renewal of the mind and enabled to discern the good and perfect will of God (Rom. 12:2). As the Spirit tunes our watches to see time and this life from the perspective of eternity, we are animated to live for the Lord with courage and strength (Ps. 27:14), as those who “shall mount up with wings like eagles” and “shall run and not be weary” and “shall walk and not faint” (Isa. 40:31).

As Christians living in an age of instant gratification and digital ubiquitousness, we will no doubt succumb to the pleasures of Egypt from time to time. But more importantly, the Christian knows that nothing in this age can bring ultimate gratification. For that, we seek the city that is to come (Heb. 13:14). In the meantime, Christians need to be aware of where much of their catechesis is coming from as we seek to make the best use of the time and the tools that God has given us (Eph. 5:15–16).

Digital Ownership

While there have been innumerable positive Christian uses of new technology, from codex to the printing press to Christian radio, the discerning Christian should be cautious of the uncritical adoption of every new technology. He will guard his heart from the enticements of being consumed by the promises of a new gadget or device, aware of the alluring power that such things can exercise on the heart. Paul reminds the Corinthians that although something might not be inherently evil, we must not allow it to control us: “‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be dominated by anything” (1 Cor. 6:12). The line is subtle between using a tool and being dominated by it. Media has rapidly gone from a tool to a lifestyle. Read Schuchardt remarks:

In the past, media was something you picked up, used, and then put down to get on with your life. Now media is your life, or at least the way you access everything else necessary to get on with your life. If the culture is the lens through which we perceive all of reality, then media is now that lens. There simply is no other single factor that dominates more of our time, attention, money, or interest.³

But is this warning overblown? Are we really susceptible to being owned by technology? Consider that, on average, most people check their phones more than a hundred times per day.⁴ Anything that grabs our attention so many times owns some real estate in our minds and influences the way we see the world. If we’re on the verge of being dominated by technology, we ought to evaluate whether the technology we use helps us in achieving our goals and whether our digital habits with those devices are spiritually edifying.