Reflection— The Age of AI Is Coming: Rediscovering What It Means to Be Human
Estimated reading time: 12 mins
1. How I Learned to See Myself
I grew up as an only child in a society where evolution was taught as the origin of human beings. Over time, the idea of “survival of the fittest” became deeply rooted in my mind. I was praised as a smart kid from the time I entered school, and my academic performance was often outstanding among my peers.
At one point, I was even willing to give up all my relationships and pursue greater academic achievements so that I could become a “better” person and feel more secure about my future.
But I have also been searching for the meaning and purpose of life from a very young age. When I was three and four years old, I experienced two life-threatening accidents. Since then, I have never taken an extra day of my life for granted. But I also grew up with a lot of confusion and insecurity. I worked very hard, hoping that I could somehow build a secure life and protect myself, while knowing that I could have already died. I was thankful to be alive, but I did not know why I was alive, especially when my life began to be filled with pain.
I had never heard the Gospel until I came to Canada to attend university. For the first 20 years of my life, I had never met anyone who told me that they were a Christian.
Thankfully, the Lord Jesus sent someone to reach me on campus. I still remember the first time I heard the Gospel about Jesus. I couldn’t help but cry, and I said, “If Jesus truly exists, He must be God.” The love of God touched my heart in a way I had never experienced before, but the Gospel sounded almost too good to be true.
By God’s grace, I was born again as a new creation 13 years ago and had the blessing of growing in a solid, Gospel-centered church that faithfully pointed me to Jesus, who is full of grace and truth.
But over these 13 years, I have also struggled deeply in my Christian walk because many false beliefs had already taken root in my mind. These beliefs became especially visible after becoming a mother and taking on the responsibility of raising children. In my old way of thinking, I saw a child’s dependence and weakness as a disadvantage. Therefore, instead of enjoying my children as the bundles of joy they are, I carried motherhood anxiously as a heavy burden. I had not yet learned how to face failures, pain and weaknesses myself, and I had also come to believe that being a mother had little value compared with what I could accomplish through a career.
I gained a lot of Christian knowledge during those years. I have always been a strong learner, and I love learning and thinking deeply. But I found myself becoming more and more discouraged in my Christian walk. I increasingly felt like a hypocrite because my heart was gradually becoming filled with resentment, grudges, anxiety and desperation instead of love, joy, peace, and hope.
For many years, although I sincerely pursued relationships, I still related to God and to other people through the old ways of thinking that had taken root in me. Only recently, as God has turned my eyes back to Christ, has He begun to tear down the walls I built around my heart to protect myself. He is teaching me what it truly means to walk with the triune God—one God in three Persons—and to live in a real relationship with Him. He is also teaching me what it means for people to truly relate to one another.
As God graciously reshapes my thinking and replaces lies with His truth, I start to experience more and more joy in my relationship with Him and in all the relationships He has placed in my life.
I think one of the biggest differences between the Christian faith and other worldviews is this:
The Christian faith is not about making us “better people.” It is about being made new in Christ, so that we can be restored, live out the good image of God in which we were originally created, and have our relationships restored to what God intended them to be.
And the more I understand who God is, the more I am learning to understand who I am.
As I have been going through this journey of spiritual renewal, I have also been blessed by AI. I know that AI is becoming a bigger and bigger part of our world, and I have been praying and thinking deeply about how I should view it.
Instead of running away from AI out of fear, I believe God has not only been teaching me how to use AI wisely, but also teaching me something deeper about Himself and about human beings through this new technology.
As I have learned to fear Him alone and trust Him with all my heart, I have begun to see that His perfect love is casting out my fear of change. I can trust the unchanging God in a changing world.
I believe one of the greatest blessings AI may bring to us and to the next generation is that it may free us from constantly accumulating knowledge and processing information as if these were the things that give our lives value. It may give us more space to know people, love people, and experience the value and meaning of life through real relationships.
I am thankful that God continues to teach me to rejoice in Him and to embrace the changes He allows in my life, knowing that He Himself never changes.
2. What Does It Mean to Be Human?
The world once told me, “People are just smart animals that happened to come into existence by chance.” Then, what is morality all about? Rationally, if survival and happiness are the most important things, it should be understandable why someone might pursue their own happiness by sacrificing others.
But the Bible tells me:
“For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”— Psalm 139:13–14
Sin has damaged the good world the Holy God created, but it cannot take away the wonder of the way God made people. I did not come into this world by accident or without purpose. Every person is uniquely made by the Holy God in His image to know Him, worship Him, and bring glory to Him by delighting in Him.
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The world once told me, “The value of every living thing depends on how much it gives to the world.” Then who decides the value of everything? Rationally, if value is determined by what something gives us, it should be understandable why someone might consider his/her pet’s life more precious than a human life.
But the Bible tells me:
“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.’”
— Genesis 1:26–28
This does not mean that other parts of God’s creation are not valuable.
It means that people have a special place in God’s creation. We are made in God’s image and are given a special responsibility: to care for His creation and live for Him.
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The world once told me, “People can be treated like tools. Your value depends on what you can do.” Then what is respect is all about? Rationally, it should be understandable why someone might despise or discriminate against people who are disadvantaged.
But the Bible tells me:
“When the Lord God saw that the man was alone, He said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make a helper suitable for him.’”
— Genesis 2:18
God created people to live in loving relationships—to love one another, respect one another, and help one another.
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The world once told me:
“Some people are better than others. You need to get above other people so that one day other people will serve you.” Then what is work all about? Rationally, if someone can live a comfortable life without work, it should be understandable why they might not choose to work at all.
But Jesus tells us:
“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant…
the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for many.”— Matthew 20:26–28
In God’s kingdom, true greatness is not about being above everyone else. True greatness is about being willing to serve. God is using these truths to completely turn my original worldview upside down.
Human beings are not random products without purpose. A person’s value does not come from how useful they are or how much they can accomplish.
Every person has a mind, emotions, and a will. Every person is unique and should be treated with dignity.
No person is merely a pipe that passes blessings to other people. Every person can receive God’s grace, and God’s love can also flow through them to others.
And no person is merely a “chess piece” that God uses to get things done.
3. From Debtor to Child
But there is another important truth.
I am a sinner.
My mind, my will, and my emotions have all been affected by sin.
Because of Adam's sin, I was born into a fallen human race. I have also personally sinned against God and turned away from Him. Sin has damaged the way I live as someone made in God's image, and I cannot fix my sin by myself.
It is like owing a debt that is far too big to ever pay.
But God did not treat me as my sins deserve.
Jesus paid the price that I could never pay. He forgave my sins and brought me back to God.
And something even more amazing happened.
God did not just pay the debt I could never pay for me. He adopted me as His child and brought me into His family. He gave me an eternal inheritance through Christ. One day, I will share in Christ’s glory.
What an amazing gift of grace!
4. Delight in God, Free to Love
So I do not have to prove that I am valuable by being useful.
I do not have to make other people like me before I can believe that I am worth loving.
God loves me, not because I can give Him something He needs. God was not lonely before creation. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have eternally existed in perfect love and fellowship. God did not create humanity because He needed someone to love Him, complete Him, or fill a lack in Him. Creation is the free act of a God who is already perfect and completely sufficient in Himself.
He calls me to worship Him and glorify Him, not because He needs something from me, but because the deepest joy I can find is in knowing Him, knowing how good He is, and worshiping Him for who He truly is.
This means that glorifying God and enjoying God are not two different things. We naturally look for things that will satisfy us. We pursue what we believe is most valuable and what we believe will bring us the greatest joy. When our hearts are fully satisfied in Christ, our lives show others that nothing can compare to His worth.
This also changes the way I love other people.
True love is not:
“I need you to make me happy, so I love you.”
Instead:
“God has already loved me and given me what I truly need, so I am free to love you.”
No person should be used as a tool to make me happy. I should not ask another person to give me the love, attention, value, or security that only God can give.
When we find our joy and security in God, we become freer to love other people as He loves us. Our love for others is no longer based on how useful they are to us or how much they can help us achieve our goals. Instead, we are free to love them for who they are—as people created in God’s image and loved by Him.
“We love because he first loved us.”
— 1 John 4:19
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I am also learning that when I make myself the center of everything, the way I see the world and other people becomes twisted.
I can see more clearly how real and serious the sin in my own heart is.
If I were the ruler of the world, and everything happened according to my will, the world would truly be a very dark and evil place.
But thank God, I am not the one ruling the world.
Jesus Christ is.
He has defeated sin, death, and the evil one.
So I do not have to control everything or be in charge of everything to feel safe.
I can come back to Jesus and remember: He is the almighty, holy, and sovereign God. He is just and righteous, yet also gracious and merciful, and He was willing to lay down His life for me.
Jesus said:
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
— John 8:12
May God keep teaching me to love Him—because He alone is God—
and to love the people around me as I love myself.
I am learning that before I can truly learn to love other people, I need God, through His Word and His Holy Spirit, to show me the lies I have believed and teach me again who He is and who I am.
The way we understand God and the way we understand ourselves affects the way we treat the world and the people around us.
May God’s Word keep changing the way I think.
May my identity be rooted in Christ.
May God’s love fill me more and more,
and may His love flow through my life to other people. ❤️
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P.S.
I also want to be honest and say that I have been using AI to help me polish and organize the articles I share publicly. I am just making a special note of it this time. 😊
I have actually been finding a lot of joy in writing down these reflections with the help of AI. Through the process of reflecting and writing, God has been working in my heart, helping me know Him more deeply and truly, rejoice in Him more, and hopefully help others rejoice in Him too.
Technology can become more and more powerful, but we should never stop asking the biggest questions:
Who are we?
Why are we here?
Why did God make us?
Tools may become more like people, but we should never treat people who bear God’s image as tools.
May we live in a time when technology is becoming more and more powerful, yet become more and more humble in returning to God’s Word—to obey Him by loving Him with all that we are and loving our neighbors as ourselves, so that we may know Him better and rejoice in Him more. ❤️
If you would like to explore more of this recent journey of spiritual renewal, you are welcome to visit some of my recent reflections on my blog. They are precious lessons of what God has been graciously teaching me that I joyfully wanted to write down and share with others. May God use them to advance His kingdom so that more people can come to know Jesus Christ and rejoice in Him forever.
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