A reflection on God’s economy of relationship
Psychology experts are offering a sober reminder as AI companions gain traction: these tools function more like mirrors than actual companions. They reflect back our words, our emotions, our preferences. They can sound affirming, attentive, even caring. But they do not share life with us. They do not bring themselves to the relationship—because there is no “self” to bring.
And that distinction matters deeply in God’s economy.
True companionship requires mutual empathy—the capacity to be affected by another, to suffer with, to rejoice with, to carry burdens that are not your own. Scripture consistently affirms that kind of relationship as essential to human flourishing. From the opening pages of Genesis, God declares that it is not good for us to be alone—not because we need constant input, but because we were designed for shared presence.
A mirror can show you your face.
A companion helps you carry your story.
AI may simulate understanding, but it cannot offer vulnerability. It cannot be interrupted by your pain. It cannot sit in silence and ache with you. It cannot risk rejection, practice forgiveness, or grow through reconciliation. All of those require a someone—a person bearing the image of God, capable of love that costs something.
In God’s economy, relationship is never transactional. It is incarnational.
“Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…”
— Hebrews 10:24
Jesus did not send a message from heaven. He came near. He touched lepers. He wept at graves. He gathered disciples not around information, but around shared life. The Church, at its best, carries that same calling—not to be perfect, but to be present; not to perform empathy, but to practice it.
The danger before us is subtle. When loneliness is met with mirrors instead of community, we may feel momentarily soothed but ultimately more alone—because nothing has actually met us. We’ve only been reflected.
God’s answer to loneliness has never been better simulations.
It has always been one another.
Church family is not optional in this vision. It is God’s chosen means of formation, healing, and love. Messy, imperfect, sometimes disappointing—but real. And real relationships, unlike mirrors, can hold us when we break.
In a world offering reflections without responsibility and affirmation without sacrifice, the Church is called to offer something radically different:
Presence.
Mutuality.
Love that costs something—and therefore heals something.
That is the economy of God.
And that’s the mid-week memo.
