Our youth of today live in an unenviable environment where information moves at the speed of light and the avenues by which information is received is exponentially increasing. We have to recognise too that no piece or body of information is neutral and each reflects a particular worldview; and EVERYONE wants to be the biggest voice in influencing how youth see the world. Faithful Christians have made good use of various channels to teach and proclaim godly values but for every faithful, pure and holy worldview, there are tons of others that are not.
That is the battle zone where the Christian youth have to fight in today. Amidst the ever-growing waves of immoral worldviews, the Christian youth need to sieve out what is unholy; adopt, live out, defend and proclaim God’s design for their lives; and be willing to be counter-cultural and suffer for the gospel.
This has been made even more evident in recent events, i.e. the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in favour of the legalisation of same-sex marriages. Whilst this should not be at all surprising, it is perhaps time for us to sit up (if we have not already!) and realise that this will only serve to accelerate the shifting landscape of a youth’s worldview on sexuality and family.
Yet, I cannot help but observe God’s divine hand in all things and remember the phrase in Esther 4:14 – “for such a time as this”.
For this year, the year of Singapore’s Jubilee, an unprecedented number of Singapore churches are uniting their hearts to gather on ONE DAY (5 July) at ONE PLACE (Sports Hub) to pray for our nation! (Jubilee Day of Prayer) I cannot help but draw a parallel between how Esther called for the Jews to fast and pray before she presented herself to the King to how the Singapore Church is coming and interceding in one voice for our nation, IN SUCH A TIME AS THIS. In addition, one of the focal points of prayer for JDOP is our Youth. To pray that our youth will be willing to live only for Jesus, empowered by the Spirit, adopting a godly worldview and being willing to carry their cross and suffer for the sake of the gospel.
Therefore brothers and sisters, even if you are unable to make it for JDOP this year, would you unite your hearts in prayer in a timeslot between 4.14pm to 7.14pm this Sunday, 5 July and pray for our nation?
For God is calling us, His disciples to stand up and be counted in such a time as this.
By Adrian Ow, Pastoral Staff (YCKC Bulletin 4&5 July 2015)