Freedom in Christ Jesus

Sep 22, 2023

PENANG: Genesis Youth of Mercy is a vibrant Catholic youth community from the Church of Divine Mercy. These youth, who love God’s Word, usually gather for sharing and fun activities once or twice a month.

Recently, they had a gathering, Gaming with God, where they used the concept of playing station games to relay an important message at the end. The station games included the “Obstacle Course”, symbolising obstacles that hinder us from listening to God, and the “Cup Tower” which shows the importance of community in building one another through faith in Christ. “Flip It”, a game of flipping a bedsheet with only your feet while standing on it, gave rise to the term “turning over a new leaf,” meaning to be free in Christ by turning away from our sinful ways and to live God’s call to us as Christians by His abundant grace and lastly, the “Ribbon Twirl” that represents the confusion we experience living in a world that goes against God’s Will.

The final message was from Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” The youth advisor presented the last session, asking, as youth today, what we could be slaves to? We could be a slave to our emotions, friends, self-image, studies, future, and certainly addictive behaviours like social media, gaming and anything that becomes the centre of our lives, when it should be Jesus in the middle of it all.

However, God loves us too much to keep us tied to our attachments in life. Through Jesus, sin should no longer control us. The power of the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to resist temptations. Instead of choosing the path of sin, we are free to choose life.

“God turns our mess into a message, your freedom is His message.”