The Liberating Quality of Faith

I ran across a post on Reddit today:

I want God to show me what is ahead, but I am realizing that knowing does not always mean controlling.

Elisha saw trouble and still wept.

Maybe faith is not preventing every painful outcome.

Maybe it is taking the next faithful step, then trusting God with what my hands cannot hold.

What are you trying to carry that belongs to God?

This hit home for me, because it reflects a persistent theme that I’ve been encountering in my day-to-day life a lot lately. But I think there’s more too it than that. It’s a trope that has plagued humanity since the days of Adam.

I offered a brief (by my standards) response to this thread:

Understanding the limits of our influence was something Jesus spoke of often but we tend not to hear. I wrestled with this for years.

“Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.” (Mt. 6:34)

The ego tends to focus on what it cannot control, and preoccupies itself with pontificating about how those things “should be” because it’s gratifying to feel like we have extended influence and power in the world, and unpleasant to have humility and apply the same critique to ourselves.

“You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.” (Mt. 7:5)

How many times I have said or done something, thinking I know what is “good, right, and proper,” only to find that my limited perspective was deficient, and I wound up being in the wrong. When we do that, we are partaking of the Fruit of Knowledge. Jesus gave us an opportunity to partake of the Fruit of Life if we would only humble ourselves enough to be innocent as little children.

“Jesus said, ‘Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'” (Mt. 19:14)

And, like little children running to their parents for help when situations get “too big,” this demands our complete surrender to God’s most perfect knowledge and loving care. Knowing and trusting in that as the only truth we can comprehend beyond self-knowledge is what it means to have faith.

Elisha knew this, too.

I’m honestly kind of impressed with myself for keeping it that concise; it’s not my usual modus operandi. However, this isn’t a “look how good I did at summarizing” post. I want to spend some more time on this topic, because I have a feeling it’s going to be a persistent theme, and it seems to bleed over into everything I touch and interact with.

I’m currently working on a new project — a tech solutions collective (coop business) that has the potential to displace the very irresponsible (and, dare I say, horrendously unethical) rapid implementation of artificial intelligence around the world while simultaneously communalizing the provision of technology services. I had to write out a “code of conduct” for the digital space I’ve carved out for this, today, and I found myself including a section that ties into this in a very real way:

We are all here to be cooperative and work together towards a common, shared interest. This is not a space for self-aggrandizement or elitism and, if we are to achieve our goals as a collective, we must be able to cooperate respectfully. To that end, the “golden rule” should be applied consciously by all members of the collective:

Treat others the way you would like them to treat you.

This means that, if you find yourself criticizing or berating someone, before you seek to have them corrected in some “official” capacity, you will be asked to imagine yourself in the same position.

[…]

As such, a “no capitalism” policy is strongly enforced. Please do not propose proprietary and/or for-profit solutions to issues the collective is managing for its clientele, nor make efforts to “market yourself” through the collective. These actions border on betrayal of a community where trust and cooperation are of utmost importance. Regardless of the circumstance, it is your cooperation, loyalty, and commitment to doing what you can, where you can, to achieve our goals and get our work done — not your skill level or “elite” status — that defines your worthiness and value in the community.

If this sounds a lot like Jesus’ exhortations that “the least among you is the greatest,” like the first century Apostolic Church, like the message that Paul preached throughout the Empire — well, it should. That’s the whole point. We, as a society, have been “doing it” wrong: we operate vertically and competitively, seeking to stand out as individuals among the “competition” of our peers in the hope that we’ll be the lucky ones who “win” and reap the rewards. And we tell ourselves, as a comforting afterthought, that everyone had the same chance; we were just “better.”

This type of toxic [hyper]individualism isn’t conducive to a peaceful or sustainable world. And it’s certainly not the kind of Godly life that Jesus taught, for which the Apostles set the bar.

Under the influence of modern liberal capitalism, we are born into and shaped by a world that presupposes this is the only way, the true and right path to success. But all I’ve ever seen it produce is pain. One person is able to hold as much wealth, personally, as an entire industry of workers¹ — many of whom are forced to live above their means, finding themselves drowning in debt just to keep their lights on and feed their children, as inflation skyrockets. This should be heartbreaking; instead that one person is lauded and idolized as a “success story,” while the entire industry’s worth of workers compete aggressively with each other for the little bit of sustenance that is dangled before them. Those who perform, or are good enough at “office politics,” are given the jobs and the rest are sent to beg on the corner. My own very recent (and still ongoing) experience² is not unique — for the tech industry, or for workers in the western world at large.

We weren’t created by God to live this way, but the devil has found his throne — to which all the world’s wealthiest show fealty.

It’s not too late for the tech industry, or for workers across the country and around the world, to turn the tides on this. But we must act swiftly. We must learn the limits of our understanding and knowledge, and keep that in mind as we collectivize. We’re not supposed to compete with each other; we’re supposed to support and uplift one another as we work together for a common goal, whether that be providing suitable technology services and solutions, or worshiping the Lord and living out the Gospel. The competitive mindset, and deliberate indoctrination of individualism, is Satan’s most efficacious attempt to foil the solidarity of God’s people, and the bankers and bosses have duly executed the same play, successfully, against the global working masses.

It does not take a gallant act of chivalry to counter this dynamic. It takes the smallest amount of humility and consideration, and the ability to identify with our collective — the Church, the worker syndicate, the global worker community — rather than with ourselves when we are doing things that could affect it, or acting as its representative.

I think the Apostle said it best:

Who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge among you? Let him shew, by a good conversation, his work in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter zeal, and there be contentions in your hearts; glory not, and be not liars against the truth. For this is not wisdom, descending from above: but earthly, sensual, devilish.

For where envying and contention is, there is inconstancy, and every evil work. But the wisdom, that is from above, first indeed is chaste, then peaceable, modest, easy to be persuaded, consenting to the good, full of mercy and good fruits, without judging, without dissimulation. And the fruit of justice is sown in peace, to them that make peace. (James 3: 13-18)

It is almost ironic that the the most perfect expression of wisdom is humility.

This is the answer for building solidarity and community among the people. But it does not go so far as to assuage the fears that most people have of instability in the world. The desperation for the means of commerce that has been weaponized against the masses by ensuring that all of our essential needs must be bought lest our families starve. This is where faith comes into play.

Without a guarantee that our families will be fed, many people find it difficult to muster the courage needed to stand up to the “elites” and their ways. What if I lose my job? How will my kids eat? How will I afford my medications? We can do our very best to create alternative frameworks — like my tech collective — that provide solutions on paper. But convincing people to take the leap and do it is another matter. We are desperate, and we want the assurance that we will be okay, just like that post on Reddit began with.

But that assurance is never ours to have. That is the mystery of faith. We must be willing to trust God entirely, and take a leap of faith, if we want to inherit the rewards of faith.

We must not presume that we know what Liberty looks like. This is where we tend to stumble in our efforts to collectivize: we all want to assume our version and vision of liberation and communalization is the “true” and “correct” form, and that we must bring everyone to the same understanding we have. This doesn’t work, because it immediately places one person (all the worse when it is ourself) in a position of superiority, which violates the principles of equality. For this reason, Jesus taught that “he who is the lesser among you all, he is the greater” (Luke 9: 48).

We must come together collectively, and decide collectively, what Liberation and Community looks like, and be willing to meet in the middle. This is the approach I’m choosing for the starting point of the tech collective. I’ve gone to great lengths, as I put pen to paper and start reaching out to others about this project, to ensure that I am not establishing any principles or precepts of my own, that everything is meant to be fluid and ever-evolving, and that all — from the greatest down to the very least — have their needs met and their concerns addressed.

Perhaps, if enough people will participate and find this model effective — in the tech industry and beyond — its success (which, I believe, is guaranteed by virtue of following God’s model for organizing) will be sufficient to open the hearts and minds of others, that God may grant them the same gift of Faith that he has given me.

End Notes

1. Estimate based on CompTIA’s State of the Tech Workforce report for 2026 which indicates that in the United States: technology work accounts for about 9.6 million workers in, or 6% of, the labor force; the median tech worker salary is $112,000 per year; the technology industry is a $2.27-trillion industry. Assuming all tech workers earn $112,000 per year (which is far from accurate), that is a cumulative of about $1.08-trillion in workers’ salaries.
2. I touched on this a little bit in a post from last week but I will at some point write something more detailed. Essentially, after all the evidence (very clear, well-documented proof of my suspicions), I was told that the company wouldn’t be taking any action and that it found “no evidence” of violations. Their approach, and the clear nervousness of all involved in my presence, says otherwise, but that’s a story for another time.