Published: 2026-07-16
In Genesis 1:28, God commanded us to subdue the earth and have dominion over the creatures within. This subduing is to make subservient, to bring into bondage, or dominate. Sounds a bit harsh but we have to remember that God gave mankind this commandment before the fall and before sin entered into the world. These words have been tainted by sin, which has led to suffering and persecution at the hands of dominant figures pulling people into bondage for their kingdoms.
If we are able, let's force aside the negative, modern, meanings of these words and think about this commandment in a pre-fall world. At the time the commandment was given, no sin existed so this subduing would not have produced negative effects. In a sinless world we would subdue the earth in a God-honoring and earth-preserving way. This includes using the resources God placed in the world to our benefit and our neighbor's.
God put trees, water, and stone in the ground. He then gave us the commandment to subdue these things, to dominate them perfectly. This is the same for gold, silver, and other precious metals we use every day in our computers. God knew computers would exist, He knew there would be software created to assist humanity in subduing the earth.
So the question: are you building technology for God's Kingdom? Because today, you were mandated to create technology. The gifts God bestowed upon you make you a good software engineer, robotics engineer, or tech support specialist. And the mandate God gave to man before the fall was never overwritten but expanded upon after Christ's resurrection to not only subduing the earth but doing so to build for His Kingdom. Christ's Kingdom which is both now in one form to be fulfilled by His second coming.
As with all gifts, it can be corrupted. Social media is one such example. The basic idea of staying connected sounds great but now we have a system built on algorithms designed to keep us pinned to the feed so ads can be sold to us. The Church sat out of the conversation during the rise of social media. The Church sat on the sidelined and let secular society control the narrative. That's done more harm than good for humanity.
We need to be careful not to do that again in this new age of generative AI. More importantly the Christian Church needs to be the one creating technology again much like it did in advancing science and medicine in the past. Like the monasteries that preserved and expanded knowledge through the Middle Ages and the clerics who founded modern astronomy and genetics. We must build technology that advances humanity in a God-honoring way and use what we build to flourish His Kingdom.
You may feel like work is something you have to get through to pay the bills, give to the Church, and pray they do something useful with the tithe you gave. But God did not put Adam and Eve in the garden with everything provided for them. Instead, He gave them work to do. This work was not a punishment or a result of the fall but a necessity of human life as part of creation itself. Just because you're not a missionary, or pastor, or doing something outwardly spiritual does not mean your work's aim is in any way apart from God's Kingdom. Because work is a form of worship. "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men" (Colossians 3:23). They are not separate callings as we have grown to believe.
This dual calling is our ongoing contribution to God's creation and now that Christ has conquered death, our contribution to His kingdom. From the very beginning, God told us that His work in creation would be accomplished by man. Christ calls us His body, the body does the work the mind wants to do. It's not by our own power but through Christ as His body that His kingdom is built. This means Christians are called to advance the Kingdom of Christ gently, but firmly, in every area of life including your job and technology.
The work we do must be oriented toward God's glory. This may seem hard to connect. But find the thread through your career. I love the phrase "God uses crooked sticks to make straight lines" because none of us are perfect and no job in our current age can be either. Sin corrupted everything but that does not mean we avoid working for God's glory to the best of our ability. I'll press and say that there are very few careers in tech that are inherently sinful and chances are you are not engaging in them. But even in a place peddling social media to the detriment of society there is still room for advancing God's Kingdom and nudging tech giants into a more God-honoring position.
We work not to become saints but because we are saints. We are children of God and have a desire to build up the Kingdom in both souls and infrastructure. The activity you love to do most will probably be what you do after Christ's second coming, even if you don't get paid to do it now. Work was never meant to be frustrating or something we'd want to avoid. It was meant to be done joyfully for God and His creation.
The code you write, the systems you build, and their benefit to society is kingdom work. It's worship as work and we can either build up society towards God's kingdom or we tear it down with software that is detriment to society. With the advent of LLMs in the AI space we can do more than we ever have before. This is a gift that God's allowed us to unlock. It's our job as His body to use it effectively for His Kingdom even though others may use it to assist the enemy and cause sin to abound. A tool is a tool, it's all in how we use it that makes the difference.