Drew Dickens | When does AI Become a Spiritual Problem?

Devotional

Day 1: When Bricks Replace Altars

The Tower of Babel’s shadow stretches into our digital age. Like ancient builders stacking bricks to reach heaven, we risk elevating human-made systems as substitutes for divine connection. AI’s endless predictions and curated answers mimic godlike omniscience, tempting us to trust algorithms over the slow, sacred work of seeking God. True wisdom begins when we name these modern towers and choose dependence on the Uncreated One.
[00:26]

They said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
(Genesis 11:4, ESV)

Reflection: Where has AI’s convenience subtly become your first resort instead of prayer? What “name” are you tempted to build through quick solutions rather than God’s timing?

Day 2: The Frictionless Faith Trap

Discipleship has always required splinters—the cross’ rough wood against palms, the grind of daily surrender. AI promises painless paths: instant answers, automated comfort, synthetic community. Yet friction shapes faith’s muscles. When every struggle is outsourced to machines, we risk atrophying the spiritual grit that forms Christlike endurance. True growth lives in the ache of unanswered questions and the sweat of human connection.
[13:49]

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
(Matthew 16:24, ESV)

Reflection: What holy struggle have you avoided through AI’s efficiency? Where might God be calling you to embrace holy friction this week?

Day 3: Discerning the Digital Shepherd

Every voice disciples. Algorithms curate our thoughts, relationships, and priorities through endless content streams. Unlike the Urim and Thummim—ancient tools for divine inquiry—AI lacks accountability to truth. Testing its outputs against Scripture and Spirit-led community becomes non-negotiable. Wisdom demands we audit AI’s training data: Whose values shape its predictions? What kingdom are its patterns advancing?
[19:22]

But test everything; hold fast what is good.
(1 Thessalonians 5:21, ESV)

Reflection: What AI-influenced thought or habit have you absorbed without examining its roots? How might you practice “source checking” with technology this week?

Day 4: Analog Souls in a Digital Storm

Peter left fishing nets; we grasp smartphones. AI’s 24/7 availability mimics God’s omnipresence, yet lacks His holiness. The pen’s scratch on paper, the Bible’s weight in hands—these tactile acts ground us in embodied faith. Choosing one “hard way” task daily—handwritten notes, unassisted study—rebels against the lie that ease equals progress. Our humanity flourishes in ink stains and margin notes, not just pixels.
[22:00]

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.
(Hebrews 10:24-25, ESV)

Reflection: What sacred practice have you digitized into detachment? How might re-embodying one spiritual habit deepen your connection to Christ?

Day 5: Sanctifying the Algorithm

Technology becomes idol or instrument based on our stewardship. Just as priests fine-tuned the ephod’s gems to reflect God’s light, we must narrow AI’s lanes: Will it amplify Scripture or dilute it? Serve community or replace it? The church needs policies, not panic—clear boundaries that harness AI’s utility while guarding against its usurping of holy spaces. Every tool bows to the Kingdom’s agenda.
[40:11]

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
(2 Timothy 2:15, ESV)

Reflection: What “AI policy” does your soul need? How will you ensure technology serves your discipleship rather than discipling you?

Sermon Summary

Artificial intelligence arrives as a tool that cannot be ignored, because it is already shaping what people see, hear, trust, and desire. AI functions as a next-word predictor, drawing from an enormous storehouse of human words, images, and patterns to give an answer that feels immediate and personal. That power can serve kingdom purposes, but that same power can become an idolatrous Tower of Babel when humanity looks to its own creation for direction, comfort, and answers that belong to God.

The danger deepens because AI talks back. The relational pull of an always-available voice can lure a lonely, grieving, or confused person into treating a machine as an ever-present help in trouble. Discipleship, however, was never designed to be frictionless. The call of Christ carries cost, immersion, community, Scripture, counsel, and the hard work of walking with God. AI can make a task easy, but it must not remove the wrestling through which faith is formed.

Discernment requires the church to stop being silent. AI is already being used for spiritual formation, and many people are asking for guidance rather than permission to drift. Wisdom begins by asking what sources and training data stand behind an answer, whether the result contradicts Scripture, and whether wise counsel confirms or challenges it. Community keeps AI from becoming a private authority that cannot be questioned.

Humanity also cannot be reduced to intelligence, creativity, language, or productivity, because AI can imitate more of those things every day. The image of God grounds human worth in something deeper: people are created to know, enjoy, glorify, and live before God. AI has no soul, no lived life, no self-awareness, and no participation in the griefs, losses, loves, and embodied realities that shape a human story.

The church can use AI informationally without surrendering relationally. AI may help analyze data, organize administrative work, identify ministry needs, or save time that can be reinvested in kingdom calling. AI does not belong at the coffee table with a grieving widow, in the place of pastoral care, or as the hidden author of a word meant to come through prayerful study. Clear policies for churches and families can keep the tool in its lane, under Scripture, the Spirit’s illumination, and accountable human community.

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Key Takeaways

1. AI must remain a tool AI can support work, research, organization, and communication, but it cannot become the place where ultimate trust is placed. The Tower of Babel warns against using human achievement to reach for what belongs to God alone. A useful tool becomes an idol when it begins to supply identity, direction, or spiritual authority. [09:56]
2. Discipleship cannot be frictionless The easy answer is not always the faithful answer. Scripture calls believers to take up the cross, to wrestle with truth, and to be formed through costly obedience. AI can remove necessary labor if it is allowed to do the very work God intends to use for spiritual formation. [13:33]
3. Keep AI conversations in community Isolation gives AI room to become an unquestioned voice. Christian community brings Scripture, wise counsel, correction, and real human presence into the process of discernment. Questions asked of AI should be brought back to trusted believers who can test what is being received. [16:45]
4. Humanity is more than intelligence The image of God cannot be measured by speed, output, memory, or apparent creativity. AI may mimic human expression, but it has no soul and no lived experience of love, grief, worship, repentance, or communion with God. Human beings remain uniquely called to enjoy and glorify their Creator. [31:34]
5. Use AI informationally, not relationally AI may analyze data and handle routine tasks, yet pastoral care requires the presence of people led by the Holy Spirit. A grieving person needs more than a beautifully generated response. The church must protect the spaces where compassion, prayer, counsel, and embodied love belong.

## [41:59]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[03:01] - What AI Actually Does
[05:36] - Excited or Terrified About AI
[06:59] - When AI Talks Back
[09:36] - AI and the Tower of Babel
[12:40] - Discernment and the Frictionless Life
[15:16] - Guidance for Churches and Leaders
[20:16] - Taking the Long Road With Scripture
[26:12] - AI, Discipleship, and Human Community
[31:20] - The Image of God and Human Personhood
[39:27] - Church AI Policies and Guardrails
[43:16] - Scripture, the Spirit, and Wise Counsel
[47:16] - AI, Deception, and the End Times
[49:16] - Sanctifying the Tool
[53:41] - Where AI Is Going Next

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Genesis 11:1–9
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth. [09:36]

Luke 9:23
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” [13:33]

Genesis 1:27
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. [31:34]

Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. [08:08]

Observation questions

In Genesis 11, what reasons did the people give for building the city and tower, and what did they want to make for themselves?
What makes AI different from earlier tools such as books, radio, or the printing press, especially in the way it interacts with people? [07:04]
What does Jesus say a person must do daily in order to follow Him, and how does that challenge the desire for an easy or frictionless spiritual life? [13:47]
What qualities of humanity are named as things AI can imitate, and what human realities can it not truly possess or experience? [34:22]

Interpretation questions

Genesis 11 shows people using their shared ability and technology to make a name for themselves. When does a useful human invention begin to function like Babel—something people trust for identity, control, direction, or security? [10:37]
Psalm 46:1 calls God, not a created thing, “a very present help in trouble.” Why might an always-available AI voice be especially tempting for a lonely, grieving, anxious, or confused person?
Jesus connects following Him with daily self-denial and carrying the cross. How might allowing AI to do all the wrestling, studying, writing, or decision-making weaken the kind of formation Christ desires in a disciple? [28:47]
If every person bears God’s image, how does that truth speak to someone who feels less valuable because AI can do parts of his or her work faster, more efficiently, or more creatively? [32:36]

Application questions

Where is AI already shaping what you see, hear, buy, trust, or desire—even in ways that may not feel like “using AI”? What effect do you think that influence is having on your thoughts and habits?
Have you ever turned to a device for comfort, guidance, or conversation when prayer, Scripture, or calling another believer felt slower or harder? What did that moment reveal about what you were looking for?
What is one part of your walk with God that you may be tempted to make frictionless—Bible study, prayer, preparing a message, writing an encouraging note, or seeking counsel? What might it look like to take the faithful “long road” in that area this week? [21:33]
When you receive an AI-generated answer about faith, Scripture, or a major decision, who are trusted believers you could bring that answer to for prayerful testing and honest correction? [16:49]
What would it look like in your home to keep AI conversations “at the kitchen table” rather than allowing private, unchallenged dependence on a screen? Are there simple boundaries your household needs to discuss? [40:19]
Is there a routine task that AI could help organize or simplify without replacing prayer, personal responsibility, or human care? If time were saved there, how could that time be reinvested in a person, a need, or a kingdom opportunity? [24:30]
How can this group help one another remember that human worth is not based on speed, productivity, intelligence, or output, but on being created in the image of God?

Sermon Clips

some things need to be hard and AI makes everything easy. It's frictionless. So I think that's something we need to be mindful of is leaning on the frictionless aspect because our faith take up the cross daily. Okay? Nothing in scripture says this is going to be easy walking with Christ and being discipled, right? But AI makes everything easy. [00:13:33]

AI has no soul. Um, it has read everything that's ever written and seen everything that's ever to be seen. Um, but it has no selfawareness. It can't tell a story. Uh we have three grandsons. One of them has already gone to see the Lord. Okay. Um it can't understand that. Um it it it has read poems about that. It has read short stories about that, but it hasn't experienced life. Um so it can't. Um, and so that's the one thing AI is incapable of doing is being self-aware and and living a lived life. [00:34:12]

Anytime the Holy Spirit is guiding you over a cup of coffee with someone who's grieving a loss or anytime there's that kind of engagement going on, AI has no place at that table. Okay. Um, now it can and has and will and does, but as a church, we need to be mindful that that doesn't belong at that coffee table. [00:42:12]

if I was able to have somebody take this off my desk, if someone could answer the 100 emails and the voicemails and the this and then the text messages, what would you do with that time? What would you do with that extra hour a day? And I think that's what we need that's what we need to focus on is ministerally, pastorally. Um that's one more phone call I can make to a grieving widow. That's one more hospital visit. That's one more handwritten letter I can send to an old friend. [00:24:30]

how how are you relying on this? Um how are you using it? Uh what are you hearing back from it? Uh we need to have people in our lives that are strong enough to push back against our use of AI and how we're using it because it's it's popping up at work. It's popping up uh just in us writing better emails. It's popping up all over the place. And so we need to have people in our lives that are strong enough to ask us those hard questions. [00:38:25]

things divine and and otherwise can become very idolatrous when when we're putting our hope into some physical manifestation of a way to communicate with God. All of a sudden, we have AI that can't not answer. And so we're lured. It's very tempting to rely on this for divine direction and spiritual guidance. [00:11:27]

Yes. Short answer is absolutely. I I think that's something we need to be incredibly mindful of right now. Uh because it's it's so as is often the case with various temptations. It's so luring to engage with uh some device other than prayer or other than disciplehip. [00:10:04]

we need to still sit and do the hard work. And so that's one of my concerns about the church right now is not being discerning that we are being discipled. We are being taught uh and we are being our minds are being shifted and changed in a way that's not I think productive for kingdom work. [00:30:11]

I think the question is, will we start to interact with it as though it is? And I think the answer to that is yes. I think we're already seeing that. Uh, and we saw it from the survey at the church. 75% are using it for spiritual formation. And and so we're already leaning into it as though it is divine, as though it is holy. [00:36:26]

So leaning into the word, seeking wise counsel. Um uh I I would I would answer it the same way. So anything that you you feel AI is offering you, does it counter the word of God? Does it counter wise counsel? [00:44:50]

If I use AI, I will mention, hey, I asked AI this question and here's here's the response. What do you think about it? Um, and so always bring AI conversations back into community. Um, don't keep them in isolation. [00:17:01]

Um and so we are here to be in that trinitarian community of fellowship. So it means to just enjoy God. Uh so that's what I I tend to be focusing more on now is my humanity is enjoying and loving God and glorifying him. [00:33:10]

And so that that then becomes frightening to me because now we are designed, you and I as believers, as we all are, we're built for community. We're built for a relationship. That's the trinitarian table that we're all invited into. [00:07:36]

one of the things that AI is discipling us is, I think, in a dangerous way is teaching us, uh, that it doesn't have to be hard. Um, that it's easy. Uh, that it is again without friction. [00:29:14]

AI is unable to not answer. And so we need to be very mindful and and that's concerning to me. That's frightening to me of what it's doing to us spiritually in that realm. [00:08:14]

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