We are living in the fastest and most anxious era in human history. The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has pushed “efficiency” to its extreme, with algorithmic logic permeating every aspect of life, instilling in us a morbid fear of slowness. This logic has also permeated the shaping of spiritual life, making us yearn for discipleship to be like a generative model, instantly producing a spiritual form upon inputting a prompt. However, God’s pace of work is never measured in milliseconds. If we do not understand this deliberate “delay”, what we are shaping is merely a spiritual “simulator”— possessing only the language model of saints, but lacking the bone and flesh of Christ’s true life.
“God’s speed” in the Bible is not speedy at all, but rather slow. God does not act at the pace people would like it to be. Some things that could be accomplished quickly took an entire generation 40 years in the wilderness, and the return from captivity took 70 years. Jesus’ own discipleship took three years and 40 days. It is precisely this slowness and length in time that allows people to truly understand and reflect on the relationship between God and His people. Therefore, spiritual shaping at God’s speed is precisely what is needed in this generation and the next.
As Professor Wen liang Zhang of Taiwan put it with an analogy: God gives us a task — to take a snail for a walk. To leaders focused on output and KPIs, this is a disaster. Driven by the anxiety of the times, we urge, blame, and even try to pull the snail, only to injure it and make it crawl slower. Only when we are exhausted and forced to slow down do we realize the overlooked fragrance of flowers and the gentle breeze, and the beautiful scenery along the way. We are eager to train our disciples into rockets — SpaceX starships; but God has handed us snails instead. This is no joke; it is a pruning of the life of faith: the destination of the walk is not the end, but the scenery; God’s purpose is not necessarily just the snail, but to use the process at God’s speed to shatter the disciples’ arrogance in their pursuit of achievement, to train them in true love, patience, and submission to God’s sovereignty.
In AI algorithms, knowledge transfer is purely a data exchange; but in the shaping of life, truth without the fermentation and sedimentation of time, is simply lifeless information download. The biggest pitfall of modern discipleship is the pursuit of “prompt discipleship”, expecting disciples to instantly generate perfect “behavior” upon receiving instructions. However, while AI can generate rigorously structured action guidelines, it cannot generate a heart tempered by suffering and capable of self-sacrifice. God’s speed is the speed at which disciples are caught by God in their confusion. The value of discipleship lies in its space to allow questions and interpretation, rather than cramming in answers. This “God’s speed” process is to prevent “overfitting” in life; not making disciples who merely learn a show of spiritual terminology, but rather to possess the spiritual resilience rooted in the real world.
This spiritual depth must be achieved through a relationship built at “God’s speed.” AI can simulate compassion, but it cannot shed tears for you, nor can it share a feast with you. In an era of rampant virtual connections, genuine companionship means a luxurious investment of time, a priceless token. You must deal with the other person’s “lack of respect,” endure repeated failures stemming from the same sin, and cultivate a genuine fellowship in everyday activities like grocery shopping, gym workouts, and casual conversations. This may seem wasteful in management theory, but in God’s Kingdom, it is the only way to achieve deep connection. Only when we establish our discipleship community in our daily lives and set our schedules at “God’s speed” without goals, that we are truly combating the anxiety of rapid progress and making space in our hearts for the Holy Spirit to touch.
We must redefine “success and speed” and embrace moments of “God’s speed.” The fact that discipleship involves stumbling five times on the same task does not mean It is in vain; instead, it may be the very essence of a life-changing moment. Emphasizing God’s slowness is not an excuse for laziness; on the contrary, it requires a higher level of focus to perceive the subtle voices and touches of the Holy Spirit. We must lead the resistance against the numb worship of “efficiency and speed”, demonstrating spiritual composure in the presence of distractions. In a world of frantic acceleration, this willing and voluntary slowness is a powerful testimony to the gospel. Taking a snail for a walk is not because we cannot run, but because love needs time, and God is love. When we put down our accelerators and stopwatches, and slow down to walk with the snail, we will see that God has always been there, accompanying us on our journey through His grand and profound story.
Rev. Alex Yip (Missionary, One-Circle)