The most blessed time in a man’s life is his meaningful youth. It will become fruitful when one leads God- Centered and Christ-Centered life. The contemporary young generation meets with different types of challenges in the world. A lot of temptations raise heads against spirituality. The nuclear family system, the social media, the development of communication technology and the concept of ‘global village’ have brought the world very closer. The jobs that our young people are engaged in today curtail time to think about God and godly matters. The growth of scientific knowledge often questions the Christian faith of the young people. Therefore, at this point the idea how the contemporary youth can be helped to grow in spirituality should be thought for.
1. The model of Joseph (Gen. 3:1-29)
The largest account in the book of Genesis recorded is character Joseph. Joseph who had many dreams about life had to pass through bitter experiences. He has experienced loneliness, enslavement and imprisonment right from his younger days. The beloved son of the father went up and down through false sex scandal. He was punished for the crime that was not his own. His life graph was descending for a long 13 years (Gen. 37:2, 41:46). But his sincerity, truthfulness, fear of God, determinism, dependency on God and honestly were reasons for the actualization of his dreams. Joseph was elevated to the highest level that of the Prime Minister of Egypt. Joseph is a role model for today's younger generation.
2. The Model of Jesus (Heb. 12:1-13)
The letter to the Hebrews chapter 13 gives a long list of faithful people. But the apostle asks us to ‘fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…’ Jesus should be our model (Heb. 12:2,3:1). The model of Jesus will help us win over temptations and lead a meaningful life. He was tempted and became equal to us in everything except sin. Therefore, he is able to help those who are being tempted (Heb. 2:18, 4:15). It is said about Jesus as follows: ‘Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men’ (Lk.2:52).
3. The Call to Follow (Jn.1:43-51).
Jesus said, ‘follow me’ (Jn. 1:43; Mk. 1:17; Lk. 5:11). A rich young man came to Jesus and asked what good should he do to inherit eternal life? Jesus answered him and said ‘obey the commandments’. He did obey them. Jesus added and asked him if he wants to be perfect in his character, he should sell everything he has and give to the poor and follow Jesus. Here we find a message for the young generation of this day to make Jesus ‘the model’. We should make Jesus Christ our model who is the ‘author and perfecter of our faith’ (Heb. 12:2).