The Gospel and Youth
We’re continuing our series interviewing people in the congregation about how the gospel shapes their lives. This week, we’ve spoken to one of our youth, Augustus, also known by all his friends as Gus, who is 15 years old studying in Raimondi College here in Hong Kong. Like any other youth, he loves games and even runs a survival multiplayer (SMP) in Minecraft. He also loves his fat pudding hamster and is a talented swimmer, who is not shy to share his Credit Card number, which is ***********!
Ambitions
After becoming Christian, Gus’ ambitions and study patterns changed. Knowing Christ in his formative years has given him more time and ‘freedom’ to address personal issues and reroute goals. Learning to study God’s word before reaching adulthood has also been important.
In his opinion, he does not have to aim too high or chase after power and worldly things. He quotes Ecclesiastes 1:9, which says, ‘What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.’ and also Ecclesiastes 5:18, which says ‘This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot.’
Gus sees that our will is not necessarily God’s will; he does not need us for anything, he could easily raise a person to the top of the world and just as easily bring him down. He believes God has different roles for each of us to play. And the path is hard to see.
He also recognises that he does not need to be powerful, respected or rich. He feels it’s useless to strive to reach such unrealistic ambitions. Even if he became rich and helped many people physically, how would he go about it? Would he have to break God’s word in order to get that power? It doesn’t seem worth it. So he tries to remember that God has a plan for him no matter how small he may seem. He can impact and help the people he interacts with and his acquaintances by getting to know them personally. So he is looking into studying in the fields of psychology, storytelling, art, or even teaching which are all places where he can help people.
Friends
Gus’ friends are not malicious or ‘tough’. But even then he still finds himself restraining from joining certain activities and jokes. He acts as a “damage control” person; de-escalating things in case something goes wrong or someone gets hurt. He thinks that he is seen as a more “serious” type and his friends sometimes talk to him about harder topics, controversies and even Christianity, as he most likely won’t brush it off.
Struggles
Gus reminds us that being a kid can be much harder than we remember. It is easy to disassociate ourselves from our past as that part of our life has passed. It is easy to forget how much confusion and anxiety there was, all the pain of youth.
In Secondary 1, Gus was “bullied”. He hesitated to tell anyone around him as he did not really consider it bullying. He thought it was not a big deal. But it still hit him hard as he remembered crying in class multiple times. And it was not just him, there were others too who were bullied. It reminded him of how cruel this world can be.
The most solace he had was in Fortnite (game), reading and music. Even though he knew that some entertainment was bad for him, he did not know where else to turn. Looking forward to games as school ended, sitting alone reading, sleeping in class and humming songs throughout the day was what helped him get through it. Gus thought it strange when you feel more compassion from a game than the real people around you. In a weird way, it felt like it can be there for you when you need it most. And a game won’t judge you, it won’t scold or reprimand you when you already hate yourself enough as it is.
But Gus sees that he does not have it that bad. He has parents and friends that love him. But it is still hard to shake off the scars that he has accumulated from old experiences. Hard to shake off the fear too. What if I open up only to be shot down? Better not. He feels that people have a nasty habit of trivialising problems.
For him, there’s a significant difference between helping someone and putting them down. As Gus thinks of this, his mind ponders the story found in the Bible about the woman caught in adultery. She was already down, regretful, hated and disgraced. Yet Jesus did not throw a single pebble. It does not say that he reprimanded, scolded, judged or condemned her. Gus feels like sometimes it just doesn’t help to kick someone when they are already down, yet it’s a pattern he sees far too often.
Gus has seen these things by observing the life around him. In observing them, he starts to see a general pattern and behaviours, the reason behind it and the depth of it. Through this, he seeks to practice Love until it becomes second nature to him.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth.… (1 Corinthians 13)
Gus ends this by saying that with God’s help, our love can go to so many depths that we don’t even realise.
Mission
Finally, Gus talks about his life as a Christian reaching out to the people around him. To encourage others to come to Christ, he is patient with them and is there for them, even though it is hard. He shares his own struggles and also respects their boundaries and tries again later. He is mindful that the Gospel might seem super great and wonderful to you, but not to them as they are not you, they have not seen and felt what you have. He sees that sometimes we need to take a step back and try not to shove something people cannot relate to in their faces but rather to take the time and effort to love them and out of that better opportunities to share can arise.