I’ve titled this post Christian hope in a changing world, and I believe that everyone – believers and nonbelievers alike – can find solace in the words in this mini-series, taking what you find useful and leaving what doesn’t match with your worldview.
Let’s delve into how we can find hope amongst the growing darkness that is becoming more obvious as time goes on in recent years…
Hope does not mean denying darkness
Biblical hope is not pretending everything is fine.
The Bible openly speaks about deception, violence, persecution, false teaching, and the shaking of nations. (There is a lot of that going on in the world isn’t there? Talk about aliens, cultural confusion, competing belief systems, and so on). But it continually points us back to God’s faithfulness. (Read more here: Isaiah 41:10, John 16:33, Romans 1:13, 1 Peter 1:3-5).
One point I’m keen to make is that we shouldn’t believe what we hear or see in the news or reported by someone we know, we should test all claims carefully, and perhaps even suspend judgement and put ourselves in a place where we can think about what is in our control, what we can be grateful for right now, what we can prepare for and what we need to trust God with.
Another aspect that we can bring into the conversation is the concept of getting back to real community.
I’ve seen recently that young people especially are choosing to be outside, turn off their phones for a while, have breaks from screen time and finding ways to have real relationships in person with their friends.
Now let me do what I did in part 1 and reminisce a bit on what it was like before mobile phones and the internet came to my life…
I remember getting up in the morning on weekends and going straight outside to find my friends, ride around on our bikes, listen to music on the boom box on the pavement just outside our house, and watching the boys skateboard with the ramps they made for themselves. The cars coming would move to the other side and let them continue playing, or they’d move their stuff, let the car go by and continue skating. We’d even order pizza to one of our houses and hail the delivery guy to the middle of the park and enjoy a pizza with friends out in nature.
Sometimes I’d stay at home reading as well, and yes we did watch TV, but it wasn’t the most part of our days. It was something we did while eating or sharing some time with my sister or the rest of the family.
Now things are a bit different to what I remember, on many fronts. It has become more dangerous to let our kids be outside on their own in some places, or the phone takes over and scrolling and chatting substitutes going to meet with friends and talking to them in person.
Don’t get me wrong, I know how easy it is to get lost in social media and chatting to A.I.
It’s fun, it’s easy and it doesn’t require me to speak – I chat to it by typing, talking exhausts me at times. But for me it doesn’t replace social time when possible. Human connection is key to feeling less hopeless, to feeling more fulfilled and even if you’re just having a laugh with someone, that can also help.
The message here is for people to try not to isolate yourselves, talk to someone, even if that someone lives with you. Talk to them, they probably need it too! That’s a real connection, not just the appearance of one.
So I encourage you to balance your “screen” use by also seeking:
- trusted family and mature believers;
- faithful local churches;
- qualified mental-health professionals when needed;
- honest friendships;
- prayer and Scripture;
- meaningful service rather than endless digital consumption.
On a related note – a Christian (or anyone really!) should never be ashamed to seek professional help. Faith in Christ and responsible mental-health care do not have to compete with each other.
I add this here because at one point in my life, I got told by a Christian friend of mine that I couldn’t possibly be depressed as “Christians don’t get depressed”. It’s safe to say that I never took my mental health worries to this person ever again.
To end this post, I want to focus on what the Bible calls The Blessed Hope.
Even though this world may seem to be falling apart, we can trust that God is bringing His purposes to completion. As the Christian saying puts it, everything is ultimately falling into place.
I know that sounds like a contradiction, and let me clarify: Christians do not enjoy seeing suffering, injustice, confusion, or darkness in the world. But we are called to observe what is happening with discernment—not panic, speculation, or date-setting. Jesus told us to remain watchful, prayerful, and faithful.
The Christian does not face the future merely asking, “What if technology takes everything?” We look toward the resurrection, the return of Christ, and the renewal of creation. Revelation 21:1–5 shows us the promise of a new heaven and a new earth. Titus 2:13 calls us to look for “the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Our final hope is not that humanity will engineer a perfect world. Our hope is that Jesus will reign, evil will be judged, death will be defeated, and God will dwell with His people.
As always, I leave you with this final thought:
We can ask, “Will A.I. change the future?”
The straight answer is: It will.
But the deeper question is: Who will we become while the world changes?
In Christ, we can remain compassionate, truthful, courageous, thoughtful, and faithful. Our purpose cannot be automated because our deepest purpose comes from God.
As Jesus said in John 14:1:
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.”
He did not say this because trouble is imaginary. He said it because He is greater than the trouble.
And here is the final Scripture for this long—but necessary—4-post series:
“We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”
— 2 Corinthians 4:8–9
The world may change. Technology may advance. Circumstances may shake. But those who belong to Christ are not abandoned, forgotten, or without purpose.
Jesus is still Lord. His promises still stand. And our labor in Him is never in vain.