Passing my days as a young
adult, I have faced and am still facing many temptations which would and will
draw me away from God. Be it friends, advancement of technology (mainly the use
of smartphones) or the worldviews we hear and see every day, there’s always
this temptation to bring us further away from God. Without a deep foundation in
the Word of God, it is very difficult to stay grounded in this end times. The
purpose of my current generation would be to stay rooted in the Word and the
deed of kingdom reconciliation which is taken from the word, Missio Dei. As the
scripture from Matthew 3:2, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’
This is Jesus’s central message.
As youths are often
termed to be the future pillars of the Church, they are the ones likely to
become future leaders in the Church. But if there are no youths willing to step
up, how can there be anyone leading our future Church? Hence, retaining youths
and educating them in the Word of God must be one of the key issues that my
generation should do in building the church. With a strong grounding in
scripture, daily devotions and prayer, we can then have the strength to move
forward and reach out to the community. Driven by the purpose – which is the
primary mission of the church to do mission in this world that we are living in,
we can redirect people back to Jesus Christ.
Growing up in a Christian
family and being a second-generation Christian, I did not truly comprehend the
meaning of being a Christian when I was a child. Going to church every Sunday
was a must do "activity or program" and unless I fell sick or I was travelling
overseas with my family, there was no excuse not to attend church. When I grew
older, there were times I wanted to not attend church just so I could spend my
Sunday with my friends. My friends often asked me out on Sunday mornings but I
had no choice but to turn them down. In truth, it was mostly out of a strong
compulsion to obey the “rules”, and not because my faith taught me to keep
Sundays for God. CCA involving Sundays, were also out of the question. To non-believers,
they have it easy. Being able to spend Sundays freely was a luxury that I could
not afford. Going to church on a Sunday had become a 'norm' for me. And without
knowing why, I was always feeling guilty if I had to skip a Sunday service, but
looking back, it could have been the Holy Spirit guiding me through those
difficult times. Nonetheless I am and will be grateful for those feelings that
accompanied me through the years.
Over the years, I slowly
grew to understand what the true meaning of being a Christian was. Through
God's grace (Sola Gratia) He sent
his one and only Son Jesus Christ to die for us and through Him, I am saved
because I believed in Him and accepted Him as my Saviour and this has got
nothing to do with my parents’ faith. Someone once said, 'God only has sons and
daughters, but not grandsons or granddaughters.' Salvation is personal and
hence that is what makes Christianity so special. Speaking from my own
observations, there might be many youths coming to church, attending service
but I am guessing that many of these youths are facing the same problem as I did
in the past – not knowing the reason why they are going to church and that
results in many of them drifting away when they grow older.
From
the article above, it is very likely that Christian youths in Singapore face a
very real problem: If they are not rooted to the Word, they might be attracted
to the many other secular things that this world has to offer. More often than
not, these worldly temptations seem to gain the upper hand, along with their attention,
time and money. Sadly, this seems to be the way things are right now. Coupled
with the issue of liberal ideology which clashes with religious teachings on
topics such as homosexuality, one would be able to accept and even use God's
love to interpret homosexuality, but is that really true?
Being
in a developed country like Singapore can have its pros and
cons. According to Wikipedia, there is a study by a Pew Center about
religion and education around the world in 2016. Singapore outranks other nations
in terms of Christians who obtain a university degree in institutions of higher
education (67%).
It is true that being
educated helps us to be able to read and spread God's word. Singapore is one of
the many countries that emphasizes on English as well as one's own Mother
Tongue. Therefore, a student should be able to at least speak or read more than
one language. Taking statistics from Singstat, there are about 97% of residents
aged 15 and above being literate. Also, there are almost half the population
which have post-secondary qualifications. This is the most updated data by far
and this percentage shows that almost all the Singaporeans are literate.
However, the percentage of Christians in Singapore constitute only 18%. Of
course, this is not to affiliate literacy with number of Christians but more of
making use of this knowledge to spread the Gospel.
As youths, I believe we
are an influence and a shining light among our friends and through our actions
live out what it means to be a Christian. Just as how King David was described
in the bible, he's the man that God said to be "after My own heart"
and then he writes and chronicles and details under the inspiration of God's
Spirit so that from much of his life we can learn and be inspired.
One would say that
David's greatest service would be the composition of the Psalms. If we were to
look at David’s lasting impact and legacy, it was not limited to the life that
he led but also what he did during that lifetime, resulting in no less than 73
of the Psalms being ascribed to him. We may not be able to be as good a poet as
David, but the attitude towards God is something we as youths can aspire to
achieve. With a strong foundation in the Word, we can then help the other
youths to grow spiritually and to seek after God. Care and concern for the
fellow youths be it the same age group or the younger ones is necessary as
well. From there on, we can and should reach out to those around us. We need to
bring Gospel to those in need. My church is currently located in the town area
and it is populated with youths. There are a few malls including Plaza Sing and
the Cathay which attracts many youths. We also have SMU and SOTA. I believe
this is a group we can serve and to bring to Christ. It will definitely not be
an easy task but it is something we will need to work on.
Enrolling into STEP has
allowed me to deepen my Faith and to learn more about our denomination, the
Presbyterian. It is based on the 5 Solas which I feel the Word of God (Sola
Scriptura) and the Grace of God (Sola Gratia) struck me with more impact. I
truly believe that this is the foundation of all things that we do. Through
this program, I also acquired skills on how to spread the gospel and by doing
so with gentleness and respect. I also learned to interpret the bible in a more
holistic manner which enables me to understand the verses as it should be
understood based on the context and not literally. The 3 questions that Rev Tan
Tiong Ann always ask is ‘Who is this God? What has he done for us? And how can
we respond?’ This faith is not something I would take lightly after knowing how
Great our God is and what he has done for a sinner like me. I would highly
recommend more youths to join this program to broaden their knowledge about
their Faith and to strengthen their Faith. To stay on this path of Faith is not
easy, due to the challenges we face as youths. But let us be like Paul, in 2
Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept
the faith.
References
http://www.dtbm.org/sermon/davids-purpose--gods-glory/
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/youth-in-singapore-shunning-religion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Singapore
http://www.singstat.gov.sg/statistics/latest-data#20
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