Tony Reinke on Christians Fleeing the City

Reinke writes,

Imagine a whole generation of Christians in exodus, called to put down their phones, close their computers, ignore the SUV in the garage, and walk out of the front door of a home filled with comforts and tools, and evacuate their city on food without looking back. Maybe this will be our generation, or the next generation, or the generation after that one. At some point Christians will heed the angelic decree to leave the city of man with all its wealth and power and gifts and blessings. The Giver will call us away from the wonderful, temporary gifts we enjoyed every day inside the city. Whether or not that is our lot, Babylon's future is meant to change us now. We live inside our cities and enjoy our gifts of tech, yet we live as men and women awaiting our exodus to a greater city. We hold our cities--like our gadgets--loosely.

A total tech disengagement is coming, but not yet.

God destroys cities (like Sodom). And he revives cities (like Nineveh). Whatever his plans for any city, we live inside them as leaven. We will be called from the city one day. But until then we thrive inside the city, even as we resist the spirit of the city in our hope and by our worship.

God, Technology, and the Christian Life. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022. p. 211-2.