You're helping your elderly father set up a new smartphone when the app permissions screen appears. "Allow access to contacts, location, camera, and microphone?" He looks at you expectantly. "Just click yes to everything, right? That's what I always do."
In that moment, you realize he's been clicking "allow all" for years on every app, every website, every service. His banking app has access to his photos. His flashlight app knows his location. His weather app can read his text messages. He has no idea what he's shared, with whom, or why it matters.
Then you realize: you've been doing the exact same thing. The only difference is age. What felt like harmless convenience had become spiritual negligence because you never understood that digital stewardship isn't just about protecting yourself.
If you've felt the weight of digital overwhelm, the guilty suspicion that you're not protecting your family's online presence adequately, or the uncomfortable realization that you have no idea what companies know about the people you love most, you're not alone. But you're also not helpless.
Scripture gives us a model for this exact challenge through a leader who understood that individual faithfulness and community protection are inseparable responsibilities.
Ezra 7:10 tells us that Ezra had "set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel."¹ Notice the progression: study, personal application, then community instruction. Ezra didn't just pursue personal spiritual growth; he took responsibility for the entire community's wellbeing.
This becomes crucial when we examine Ezra's actual ministry. He wasn't just rebuilding the temple; he was rebuilding the community's capacity to discern and resist corruption. In Ezra 9-10, we see him discovering that the returned exiles had "not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations."² The corruption wasn't dramatic; it was gradual, systemic, and nearly invisible until someone took the time to investigate.
The Hebrew word used for "separated" here is badal (בדל), which means to divide, distinguish, or set apart for a specific purpose.³ It's the same root used in Genesis 1 when God separated light from darkness, waters from waters. Ezra understood that healthy community requires intentional boundaries, active discernment, and ongoing maintenance.
Modern Christians face an identical challenge in digital spaces. We've allowed gradual, systemic corruption of our information ecosystem because we've never applied biblical stewardship principles to our digital presence. We need Ezra's methodology for our digital age.
"And Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments." - Ezra 7:10 (KJV)
Ezra's approach wasn't reactive; it was systematically proactive. Before addressing community corruption, he spent months studying the situation, understanding the scope of the problem, and developing comprehensive solutions that protected everyone, especially the most vulnerable.
When he discovered the extent of intermarriage with idol-worshipping communities, Ezra didn't just tell people to "try harder." He created systematic processes for investigation, accountability, and community-wide reform. Most importantly, he took personal responsibility for the community's spiritual security rather than assuming individual good intentions would be sufficient.
This is exactly what Christian communities need for digital stewardship. We can't assume that individual good intentions will protect vulnerable community members from sophisticated data exploitation, predatory algorithms, or digital manipulation designed to fracture Christian formation and authentic community life.
Modern research validates this biblical approach. As Tony Reinke observes, technology companies deliberately design products to bypass parental oversight and Christian formation, requiring systematic community-wide responses rather than individual solutions.⁴
Here's what most Christians miss: digital exploitation isn't just about privacy. It's about spiritual formation. When algorithms shape what spiritual content you see, when data brokers sell your information to target you with specific theological advertising, when your digital choices expose vulnerable community members to harassment or manipulation, your digital stewardship directly impacts the body of Christ.
Ezra understood that individual spiritual compromise always creates community-wide vulnerability. Today's equivalent is the Christian who clicks "accept all" on privacy policies, uses default platform settings, and assumes their digital choices only affect themselves.
Meanwhile, their elderly parents become targets for financial scams because their contact information was harvested from social media. Their struggling teenager gets served algorithmically optimized content designed to undermine biblical sexual ethics.⁵ Their pastor's family faces harassment because someone in the congregation carelessly shared sensitive church information on surveilled platforms.
This isn't hypothetical. International Christian Concern reports that technology has significantly increased persecution of Christians globally, with digital surveillance and data collection being weaponized against believers in hostile environments.⁶ Your digital stewardship decisions affect the global body of Christ.
The GUARD Framework provides Ezra's methodology for protecting Christian communities through faithful digital stewardship.
Like Ezra studying the law before addressing community problems, begin by understanding the current state of your digital presence. Conduct quarterly audits using independent search engines like Brave Search or SearX to see what information about you is publicly available. Set up monitoring alerts for your name and family members through privacy-focused services. Review and adjust privacy settings seasonally across all platforms rather than accepting defaults.
Diagnostic question: Do I know what information about me is currently available online, or am I operating blindly in my digital stewardship?
Ezra didn't assume he understood the corruption's scope; he investigated systematically. Similarly, research what data brokers and technology companies have collected about you and your family. Use services like Whitepages and BeenVerified to see what's publicly available. Request data reports from platforms you use. Check credit monitoring services to understand financial tracking. Research vulnerable family members' digital exposure, especially children and elderly parents.
Diagnostic question: Do I understand the actual scope of data collection about me and my family, or am I making assumptions based on what I've consciously shared?
Every permission you grant represents a stewardship decision that should align with your spiritual values. Conduct monthly permission audits across all devices, removing unused apps and revoking unnecessary access. Read privacy policies for services handling sensitive information. Use privacy-focused alternatives when available (Signal instead of WhatsApp, Brave Search instead of Google). Implement "minimal necessary access" - only grant permissions essential for actual needs.
Diagnostic question: Do my permission decisions reflect my spiritual values and stewardship principles, or just my convenience preferences?
Ezra removed corrupting influences that no longer served the community's spiritual health. Delete old accounts, unused profiles, and accumulated digital debris that creates ongoing security risks without serving your current discipleship goals. Use services like Incogni, DeleteMe, or Privacy Bee to systematically remove information from data broker databases. Clear old photos and posts that no longer represent your values or could be misused against your community.
Diagnostic question: Am I holding onto digital information out of habit rather than intentional stewardship of my digital presence?
Ezra's reformation wasn't complete until he taught others to apply these principles. Share digital literacy knowledge generously, especially with elderly, young, or less tech-savvy community members who cannot protect themselves. Help family and community members implement their own digital stewardship practices. Advocate for privacy-respecting communication tools within your church. Share resources about digital safety, especially for those facing harassment, domestic abuse, or persecution.⁷
Diagnostic question: Am I sharing digital literacy knowledge generously with my community, or hoarding these stewardship skills for my own benefit?
This week, begin your own Ezra-style investigation by conducting a basic digital footprint audit for yourself and one vulnerable family member. Search your names on at least three different search engines and document what information appears publicly. Check one major data broker site to see what they've collected about you.
Then, identify one person in your Christian community who needs help with digital literacy - perhaps an elderly church member, a busy parent who never learned privacy settings, or a teenager who doesn't understand long-term consequences of digital choices.
Schedule time this month to teach them one element of the GUARD Framework, starting with helping them understand what information about them is currently public. This isn't just about privacy; it's about discipleship that protects the entire body of Christ from digital exploitation.
If Ezra were leading a modern Christian community, what digital practices would he identify as "abominations" that we've unconsciously adopted?
How might your current digital stewardship decisions be creating vulnerability for the most defenseless people in your spiritual community?
What would change in your approach to social media, app permissions, and online sharing if you viewed every digital choice as affecting the body of Christ globally?
Like what you're reading? Subscribe for biblical wisdom that addresses the digital stewardship challenges most Christians never learned to recognize, with scholarly depth and practical steps that protect your entire spiritual community. And if this resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to discover what faithful digital stewardship looks like in practice.
Footnotes:
Ezra 7:10 (ESV) - Bible Gateway | YouVersion
Ezra 9:1 (ESV) - Bible Gateway | YouVersion
Blue Letter Bible, "Strong's H914 – bāḏal – Hebrew Lexicon."
Tony Reinke, "Teens and Screens: A Parent's Guide to Tech-Stewardship," Desiring God, September 8, 2024.
Tony Reinke, "The God Who Dwarfs Big Tech," Desiring God, January 26, 2022.
Rockefeller Kennedy
Share Dialog
Electronic Frontier Foundation, "Surveillance Self-Defense: Tips, Tools and How-tos for Safer Online Communications," 2024.
