Declare Independence From the Religion of Toil
On America’s 250th birthday, the freedom that matters most is freedom from the pharaoh systems that tell you your worth is your output. You're not a productivity machine. You are an instrument of God.
It’s July 4th, 2026.
America is 250 years old today.
Exactly one year ago, I declared independence from everything that keeps the American people from God’s will, and laid out a vision for refounding America one transformed heart at a time.
This year, something simpler has been pressing on my heart. Not a grand vision. A single correction. One that, if you receive it, will set you freer than any document signed in Philadelphia ever could.
You are not a productivity machine.
The Religion of Toil
There is a new religion spreading through this country, and almost nobody realizes they’ve converted.
It has no church, no stated creed, no name. So let me name it:
The religion of toil.
Its doctrine is simple: you are what you produce. Your worth is your output. Your salvation is your grind. Heaven is a dashboard where all your metrics are up and to the right. And it is always one more sprint away.
This religion has no single author. It is built on a wound almost all of us carry: the belief, drilled in early, that you are only worth what you can achieve. People who carry that wound build systems out of it, and those systems disciple the rest of us into the same religion. I have compassion for everyone caught in it, the builders most of all. Many of them are brilliant, and many of them are deeply hurt. They did not invent the lie. They inherited it.
Every one of us faces the same choice: be fueled by toil, or submit to God.
But here’s what makes this moment uniquely dangerous. The machines are getting so good that the religion of toil is entering its most feverish chapter. AI can write the code, make the calls, draft the emails.
So the sermon of the age is:
Work more hours than ever, move faster than ever, or be left behind forever.
Many of the innovations that were supposed to free us are being used by this religion to tighten the whip.
The Ontological Error
Let me say this as plainly as I can. The religion of toil is worse than exhausting. It is built on an ontological error: a lie about what a human being fundamentally is.
You are not a productivity machine.
You are an instrument of God.
You are here to please Him. To show that you can trust Him and obey Him. That’s it. That’s the assignment. Everything else (the work, the provision, the impact, the legacy) follows from that.
As Jordan Hall put it in our conversation about the narratives fighting for humanity’s soul: you must become the blade, not the swordsman. The instant you insert your will for His will, the instant you make the plan the master instead of the Master the plan, you’re done.
We are dominated by overthinking. Anxious planning has become our national pastime. We game out every scenario, optimize every funnel, stack every contingency. And we call it wisdom. But listen to what Jesus said:
“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”
(Matthew 6:26)
The birds are provided for. And they are not overthinking their provision.
We overthink ours. We build elaborate systems of security around ourselves, and then we submit ourselves to those systems as if they were God.
Pharaoh Systems
Here is the pattern I want you to see, because once you see it you cannot unsee it.
When people stop trusting God for provision, they don’t become independent. They go looking for a pharaoh.
We submit ourselves to Egypt systems (corporations, platforms, algorithms, funding ecosystems) because somewhere deep down we believe that finding the right pharaoh and pleasing him is the only way to survive. Or else. That’s the whole theology of Egypt: comply, produce, and maybe you’ll be fed. Or else.
And the pharaoh system hypnotizes you into measuring your worth in its currency:
Your lines of code.
Your outbound calls.
Your follower count. Your utilization rate. Your velocity.
None of this is what you are worth. All of us want the same true things: to be provided for, to provide for our kids, to live good lives. Those desires are from God. But they will never be satisfied by submitting to a pharaoh system. Pharaoh doesn’t reward your bricks with freedom. He rewards them with a higher brick quota.
It took plagues to convince Israel that God, not Pharaoh, was their provider. I pray it takes less for us.
The Independence That Matters
So on this 4th of July, America’s 250th, when you think about independence, think about this independence:
Independence from the pharaoh system that taught you your worth is your output.
Declare it. Not with fireworks, but with obedience.
Because here is the promise on the other side of that declaration:
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
(Matthew 6:33)
God wants to reward you. Generously. He wants to give you the desires of your truest heart: not the desires programmed into you by the TV and the feed, but the ones He planted in you before you were born.
But you have to submit. To Him, not to Egypt.
Seek first the kingdom. Everything else will be okay after that. The work still matters. As I wrote in Introducing Christofuturism, we are called to build boldly in this age of miracle-making machines. But the building only becomes life-giving when it flows from submission to God rather than substituting for it.
The birds will eat today. The lilies will be clothed today. And your Father knows what you need.
Happy 250th, America.
May your next chapter begin with the only declaration that has ever set anyone free:
Not my will, but Yours be done.
If this resonated, read last year’s July 4th piece, God Calls On You To Refound America. That vision was always going to require this personal foundation.
The way of Grace is not dependent on toil!
Anything built from your own power will eventually be corrupted no matter how well intentioned, as it becomes separated from the Will of God (which is what we see time and time again with powerful men trying to enact “clever” solutions that always somehow become perversions of their intentions)
When you walk with the spirit, your victory is dependent not on your own might but on the grace and mercy of God
Sometimes the way to win the battle is to surrender all movement entirely
“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Thought-provoking post here!
One of the things I wonder about is if I will be judged for not using my God-given talents correctly or enough in this life. What if my truest self is to "participate in the divine act of creation"?
In that context, failing to listen to who I am and what makes me unique -- and acting upon it -- is denying God's plan for me.
For people starting careers, there can be a lot of pressure to conform and take the tried and true path. To align with the world's greatest brands and build a resume'. Like it or not, the world judges people based on past experiences, and for many a job inside a prestigious company IS the path to career success. Those opportunities are sometimes worth the leap, if for no other reason to be open to serendipity. Who's to say those things aren't God's plan for you.
For me -- a builder -- I left a cushy corporate gig in which I was getting promoted regularly BECAUSE I could feel in the depth of my soul that it was not what I was truly called to do. Was it the right financial decision? Probably not. But I've lived interestingly and try to continue to do so, and my life is much more full as a result. I haven't regretted that choice for a moment.
In my current role, it is easier to see and identify when folks make "business decisions" instead of following their heart or vocation as parent/spouse/etc. Sometimes it's by necessity -- financial pressures, health concerns, family demands, etc. are real. So I think it can be dangerous to judge those situations.
But discernment of who you are and what you are and where you should go -- certainly should at minimum define the 2nd half of a career. Perhaps sooner. I think that's an interesting philosophical question -- when to take that leap of faith.
Will continue to noodle on this concept. Thanks for sharing!