“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel” Philippians 1:27 NIV
Reflection: what is more important – words or actions?
Not sure what you think about Artificial Intelligence, or AI, but no doubt this technology has the potential for creating great value, and of course also great evil. One of the uses of AI is to create some version of reality that is not true, not real. In fact, using your voice and images it can actually create a video of you saying something that you never said. But it looks completely real. You might have seen demonstrations like that. While it is very cool from a technology perspective, the extension of such capabilities leads to the creation of content that we cannot trust. It might be an AI generated news program where the story and video using a “familiar face” is completely made up, or modified to fit a narrative. Why? To control and change people’s perception and opinion, to deceive people. And, of course, we know where all forms of deception comes from.
Now, AI is just a technology, that man has created, and that man is training. So this idea of deception, of creating a false image, a version of reality that is actually not fully true or correct, is in the heart of many non-believers, from their father the devil. It is nothing new, it is what has been done since the very beginning of time. Falsehoods, deceptions, lies are all in defiance of God, who is the Truth. And anyone who is not always seeking truth, even when the truth might hurt them, might damage their image, must search their own heart whether they actually have surrendered to Christ. Whether they have received the Holy Spirit. Because deception is never from God, nor the work of the Holy Spirit. Deception is demonic.
Paul commands the believers in Philippi to conduct themselves “in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” Meaning, if they confess that Christ is their Lord, their actions, their conduct in daily living must reflect their confession. That they live a life “worthy of the Lord”. So words must match actions. Otherwise, if you say one thing and do another, is a falsehood, right? And who would they actually be fooling? Clearly themselves, because God will not be fooled nor mocked. He can see what is in the heart of man.
Paul expands a bit on what this should look like for a church body. He tells them that “you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel” Philippians 1:27b NIV. And this point about being “one in the Spirit” and “striving together as one” is so very interesting to consider. If you think about all the division we see in the world right now, also within Christian communities, even within one church body, there is clearly more than one spirit at work. And since there is only ONE Spirit of God, other spirits at work are therefore demonic. Often division in a church body comes from some that want to be more like the world, different than what the Bible teaches. They promote a false teaching, that might sound good and become popular. But it is a deception.
So how can we know that someone is causing deception, therefore being led by demonic spirits? The Bible talks a lot about fruit. Jesus said ““Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” Matthew 7:15-20 NIV
Words are important. But they are meaningless, in fact they are a lie, unless followed by conduct or actions that are aligned with the words. Let’s make sure we always pursue truth, and that all our conduct match our words, aligned with the Holy Spirit.