Urgency for justice: the time is now for the Jesus generation to stand up
“I recently attended two Christian youth conferences, onething 2011 and Passion 2012, which focus on loving and glorifying Jesus above all else. At the forefront of these two conferences was also the issue of justice and our role as the church—could this generation be the Jesus generation? Those committed to be His voice, hands, and feet on the issues of justice, motivated by more than an emotional tug at the heart to actually believe that His bride can make a difference through prayer and bold action?
The time is now. There was a palpable sense urgency I felt among the thousands and thousands of young people surrounding me at these conferences, followers of Jesus who are rejoice in His love and long to share it with others. They are moving beyond religion, that is, rather than being moved by “’ought to and have to” they are moved by “get to,” as Lou Engle expressed at onething.
We get to have a life of intimacy with Jesus Christ. We get to worship the Almighty God, grow in the knowledge of Him, and be completely satisfied in Him. We get to share the good news of the gospel, of His second coming, of the eternal hope that we have in response to the eternal cry in our hearts to dwell with Him. We get to pray, fast and cry out to the Lord for the true justice and freedom that only He can offer, because we know that He responds! We get to be His hands and feet on this earth to address the pain that surrounds us on a daily basis.
Psalm 139 describes how each of us were “fearfully and wonderfully made,” or as Lou Engle profoundly conveyed: “the womb is God’s art studio, it’s His secret laboratory where He creates those made those in His image.” I cannot help but think about the more than 70, 000 combined attendees at both conferences, multitudes of people in our eyes, but brilliant individual works of art in His. Now think about that number and multiply it by 715 and you will have roughly calculated the number of abortions performed in the United States since 1973: a total of 50 million lives. This number doesn’t even come close to abortions performed worldwide.
So what can we do in response to these injustices? Both onething 2011 and Passion 2012 featured the issue of modern-day human trafficking and slavery at their conferences. Passion 2012 raised more than 2.6 million dollars to combat the plight of 27 million slaves worldwide, and onething showed a moving documentary called Nefarious that chronicles the suffering of some of these individuals, which challenges Christians to stand up in prayer and deed. Rather than being overwhelmed by the suffering worldwide, the same hands held up in worship are now helping end injustice through intercession and action.
Who else can cry out for these millions? Bound4LIFE was created for such a mission, to be a voice to the voiceless by proclaiming LIFE. The time is now for people to know about true freedom and justice because we know we serve an all-powerful God who hears every cry and responds with zeal.Jael is originally from Bolivia, but grew up in the Northern Virginia area most of her life. She leads worship and directs the House of Prayer at Iglesia Nueva Jerusalen, a local Latino church pastored by her father. Just out of graduate school, she finds Jesus to be the most fascinating, awe-inspiring,mind-bending, speechless-enabling God that she’s ever encountered.”
About the Author
Jael is originally from Bolivia, but grew up in the Northern Virginia area most of her life. She leads worship and directs the House of Prayer at Iglesia Nueva Jerusalen, a local Latino church pastored by her father. Just out of graduate school, she finds Jesus to be the most fascinating, awe-inspiring,mind-bending, speechless-enabling God that she’s ever encountered.
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