Called to Be Human
Rediscovering Identity in the Age of AI
In a world where artificial intelligence can think faster, organize better, and even mimic human creativity, it’s easy to feel like we’re being edged out of our own story.
Much like machines once replaced human hands on the factory floor, AI seems poised to replace the human mind in offices, labs, and even art studios. It’s not just blue-collar jobs anymore. It’s creativity, analysis, judgment. The things we once thought were uniquely human.
I’ve felt this personally in my work. For years, I watched automation displace labor in industry. That was understandable. Machines were made to lift heavy loads, weld faster, measure with precision. But now? AI can write, audit, schedule, design, and negotiate.
It feels like the last frontier of human contribution is being breached.
If machines can do everything we can, maybe even better, what’s left for us?
And even more haunting: what does it mean to be human when humanity is no longer required?
The Crisis of Identity in a Digital Age
AI doesn’t just perform tasks, it changes how we think about ourselves. Social media algorithms shape our behavior. Recommendation engines suggest what we watch, listen to, and even believe. And now, with AI mirroring our writing styles, generating music, and analyzing Scripture, it’s not just affecting our output. It’s intruding on our identity.
We begin to wonder:
Am I just a set of habits and preferences?
Could an algorithm replicate me?
Who am I… really?
This is no longer just a philosophical question, it’s spiritual. If we forget who we are, we’ll forget whose we are.
What AI Can, and Cannot, Be
Let’s be clear: AI can do some amazing things. It can calculate probabilities, identify trends, simulate emotional tone. It can draft policy, compose music, and even offer spiritual-sounding counsel.
But it cannot do the one thing that makes you most human:
It cannot bear the image of God.
AI has no soul. No spirit. No capacity for repentance, for worship, for divine relationship. It doesn’t long for meaning. It doesn’t hope. It doesn’t ache.
You do.
You were not made to compete with machines. You were made to walk with God.
Returning to Genesis
Genesis 1:27 says, "So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them."
This wasn’t about productivity or intellect. It was about relationship and purpose. We were made to reflect God. To carry His nature into the world through love, creativity, stewardship, and community.
No matter how advanced AI becomes, it can never:
Know God.
Be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Receive grace.
Be called a child of God.
That distinction isn’t based on ability. It’s based on identity.
And identity isn’t earned. It’s given.
When I Felt Most Human
Strangely enough, I didn’t fully understand this until I felt like I had nothing to offer.
There was a time when I was performing poorly in just about every aspect of my life. I felt broken. Worthless. My confidence was unraveling. That’s when I turned to God. Not because I was strong, but because I was out of options.
And He showed up.
Not just in spirit, but in people. Unexpected people around me, some I barely knew, began to show love and grace. They lifted me when I couldn’t lift myself. And I realized they were placed there before I even reached my breaking point. God had already woven rescue into my story.
That’s when I understood: My value wasn’t in my output. It wasn’t in my achievements. It was in the fact that I am known, loved, and redeemed.
AI will never experience that.
But we can. And that’s what makes us human.
Resisting the Pull Toward Performance
The pressure to prove ourselves is greater than ever. In a world shaped by metrics and machines, it’s easy to start acting like one:
Be efficient.
Be optimized.
Be predictable.
But that’s not our calling. Jesus didn’t say, “Be productive.” He said, “Follow Me.”
He called us to abide, not accelerate.
He called us to love, not outperform.
To be human is not to win the race against machines. It’s to remember that the race we’re running isn’t even the same one.
What It Means to Be Human Today
To be human is to:
Bear God’s image.
Receive God’s grace.
Walk humbly.
Create beauty.
Tell the truth.
Feel the ache of longing and the joy of belonging.
Know that you are known.
Romans 8:16 reminds us, "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God."
No technology can take that from you.
No future can outgrow it.
In fact, the more artificial the world becomes, the more radical it is to simply be human.
Living as God’s Image-Bearers in the Age of AI
AI may outperform us in skill, but it can never out-love, out-grace, or out-humble a child of God.
Micah 6:8 gives us a compass: "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"
Those aren't machine attributes. Those are marks of a Spirit-led life.
We weren’t made to serve the algorithm. We were made to walk with the Author of Life.
Human by Design, Redeemed by Grace
AI will continue to grow. It may take over many of our jobs. It may outperform us in countless domains. That might be a blessing, or a warning. Maybe both.
But one thing it will never do:
Be a child of God.
So don’t forget who you are.
You are not the sum of your tasks. You are not the shadow of your digital reflection. You are not in competition with machines.
You are a human being.
You were created on purpose.
You are called to be human.
Not optimized. Not replicated. Not automated.
Human.
And that will always be enough.