Every Christian is called to be a witness of God in this world. Being a witness of Christ means knowing the work of Christ, that is of God the Father who loved us, sinful humans, to the point that He would sacrifice His Only Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross to save us. Being a witness of Christ means embodying love, justice, and forgiveness that was given to us by God in our everyday lives through our behaviors, words, and deeds.
Throughout my life as a Christian and a University Student, I’ve seen that me and other Christian youths in my peer group often behave apathetically towards social and political issues that happen around us. This indifference is caused by the misconception that these social and political issues don’t have any significance in our lives. Our similar familial backgrounds, where we live well-off and comfortable, have made us “privileged” youths that don’t concern ourselves with social-political conditions that have great impacts in society at large.
My ignorance in regards to social-political situations that happen in society is a form of my selfish, self-centered self, where it in turn becomes a “disease” that ceases me from embodying Christ and stops other people in seeing the influence of Christ in my life.
How can I call myself a Christian youth and state the love, justice, and forgiveness of Christ in my life when I do not care about social and political issues that concern the lives of many?
What’s the use of my understanding of God’s love, if I do not love others who go through trials and sufferings because of systemic injustice in my own country?
Through this article, I’m not saying that Christian youths need to specifically go into governments, because I believe that everyone has their own calling and in different fields as well. However, I would like to call on Christian Youths to communally look and think about bigger things other than ourselves, and how we can be a witness of Christ through understanding social and political issues in our country.
When we understand that being a Christian Youth means to be a witness of Christ in this world, then we must take the time to care about the social and political issues happening all around us.
Being a witness of Christ shouldn’t only be in church or in Christian communities, it is to be done in every community that we’re placed in by God, such as our neighborhoods, school, university, work, and through many various relationships. We learn to be a witness of Christ through loving in a more inclusive way, starting by educating ourselves and understanding things that are happening around us. When we’ve understood these social and political issues, then we can contribute concretely in our own way to aid in fixing the situation at large.
*This article is a personal reflection regarding how I, as part of the Christian Youth, should stay educated on social and political issues that happen in everyday society.
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