Reflections: The Holy Spirit—or the spirit of the age?

A recent blog post, from a church network I often follow, referenced the biblical command to “live by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16, NET). Some versions say “walk by” or “be guided by,” but all capitalize “Spirit,” implying that the reference is to God’s Holy Spirit. The blog writer then asked an interesting, and important, question: What other “spirit” could we otherwise live by? 

That question has stuck with me since reading the post, and I’ve found myself asking it about my daily activities.  Much of the God-inspired advice by Paul and other writers to the early Church has to do with bringing our spirits, created in the image of God, into conformity with His will with the help of the Holy Spirit.  

What am I allowing to form and shape my spirit? Technology has created a conundrum of being more connected than at any previous time in history and yet, at the same time, more isolated. In the “spirit of the age,” everything is about the individual. Horrible crimes are committed just because someone got offended. Digital connections have removed simple personal interactions like saying hello to a friend at the grocery store, and sadly, for many people, online church has replaced personally attending a faith community. This has led to record numbers of people experiencing anxiety, and now, we stand at risk of artificial intelligence shaping our thoughts. 

In an article I wrote for the Assemblies of God News, one of my sources pointed out that while AI can save time finding statistics or show how your kitchen might look with new cabinets, it cannot replace a Spirit-led pastoral team or a trusted friend taking time to listen to your situation in person; and it certainly can’t replace personal Bible study and prayer. To get accurate and helpful input from AI, we must ask it the right questions—but without study or good teaching, how do we even know what the right questions are? 

At the recent Evangelical Press Association conference, many workshops and conversations centered around the need for Christian content to balance out the many “spirits of the age” competing for attention as people ask AI about problems only the Holy Spirit can truly help. 

The CRC Network blog wrapped it up this way: “To live by God’s Spirit in the age of technocracy, algorithms, hyper-individualism and collectivist ideals calls neither for abstention nor immersion. It calls for wise engagement with technology and culture from a biblical perspective.”  

From a technological standpoint, our challenges in walking by the Spirit are different from the challenges of the early Church, yet in other ways they are eerily similar: The religion of self; anti-biblical laws or outright persecution from prideful governments; the everyday demands of making a living, combine to distract us from hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s advice still applies, so I’m asking God to help me apply it today:  

“What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:12–16).