Author: Samantha Winata

In Reformed theology, we often hear the word “election”. We believe that God has elected His people before the foundations of this world were laid. But many Christians struggle when it comes to the notion of God’s sovereignty, and how evangelism comes into play. Since God has chosen, what difference would it make to preach the Gospel? Saved or not, there is nothing that we can do to alter what God has predestined – and simply because His will prevails nonetheless. This is where we need to be careful. If we continue, it could wrongly lead us to conclude that God’s sovereignty excludes the activity of evangelism, when this seeming paradox in fact works together hand-in-hand.

The Origins of The Elect

First, let’s dive into the concept of “election”. Let us travel back in time, all the way to before our universe was created. 

Welcome to “Eternity-Past”. 

Here, there is no specific time, but we can be sure that we have travelled far beyond the “olden-days”. In case you didn’t notice, we don’t exist yet. The planet we call ‘earth’ has not yet been created. Before us lies a dark and mysterious void. But in the midst of all this nothingness, we are not alone. There is a supernatural being who has been here for longer than we know: The Triune God. Although the universe and everything in it, including us, is still non-existent, we have in fact been in God’s mind this whole time. God, in accordance with His omniscient attribute, has already planned and knows the who, what, where, when and why’s. From every planet’s position in the solar system to all the human beings that would ever live, God knew it all. And, He knew that we would fall into sin and choose to hurt Him too. But God, in His grace and mercy, proclaims His love for us through His great plan for Salvation.

We read in Ephesians 1:4 that “….He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him….” As a matter of fact, this is where the story of salvation begins – before “people” even existed! This, in Reformed theology, is what we call “election”. From “eternity-past” God had unconditionally elected a group of people that He would save, through His Son, Jesus Christ. His choice was unbiased, not based on any meritorious deed that He knew we would do in the span of our lives. These are the “chosen people”, the “elect”; those who are guaranteed to be with God. 

Why, then, should we bother to preach the Gospel? If God has already chosen His people, why bother talking to those who might not even be a part of the Elect? God is sovereign after all, and there’s nothing in our power that can change what God has already determined. 

Even if we did, those who have not been chosen will reject it anyways, and for those who are, will God not have a way to bring them to Him apart from us?

Because He Says So

Remember the story of Jonah? The one who got thrown off a boat and swallowed by a large fish because He decided to run away from God? Well, in short, after running from God’s command at every turn, he eventually goes to the city of Nineveh. Jonah preaches and conveys God’s message that if they do not repent, the city would be overthrown in forty days. The people of Nineveh believed and repented, including the king. Yet, fast forward through the story, we learn that in the end, Nineveh returns to its evil ways and perishes. “What was the use then?”, you may ask. “Why did Jonah travel for three whole days just for his preaching to be ignored later on?”

One of the fundamental principles in the Christian faith is obedience. In John 14:15, Jesus says to His disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” And Matthew 28:19-20 reveals our great commission. It reads: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” 

Why should we still evangelise? Because God says so! Or rather, because He says “go”.  If we are truly His followers, we will do what He says. And if God says to “go” and proclaim the Gospel, so be it. Notice that Jesus also says “all nations” and not just “His people”. For one, we do not know who will be saved or not, just like Jonah who didn’t know that the city of Nineveh would perish in the end. But God uses us as a means to call the elect. We are His sowers and the seed is His Word. For there to be fruit, the seeds must be planted first. Therefore, understanding will only grow in the hearts where the Word of God has been sown. At the same time, we must be aware that we are not an essential part of God’s plan for Salvation. God will finish and accomplish His work and He can do it easily without us. Yet He decided to include us, even in our sinful and imperfect state, equipping us to do His work here on earth. Praise God for this wonderful act of grace towards His people!

A Lesson To Learn

Evangelising is indeed not easy. But God has appointed us to be His sowers and spread the Good News. We may struggle, just like Jonah who learned to obey the hard way. But God has called us for a purpose, for there is a lesson to learn. Often God uses different means to teach us a thing or two, and that includes the activity of evangelism. In Jonah’s case, God convicts Jonah of his selfishness and lack of empathy towards the people of Nineveh. 

As teens living in a secular world, God is calling us to evangelise in our respective environments. May we all learn and grow together as a community of Gen-Z teens.

Samantha Winata (15) is one of the many teens that write in RE Generation-Z. She strives to share the light of the truth through her articles and bring more teens to Christ. If she isn’t reading or playing piano, you’ll find her filling the pages in her books with drawings.

It’s lunch time at school and you’re sitting with your friends on one of the benches in the high school courtyard. It’s lively and full of chatter, gossip about other people in the grade and complaints about strict teachers. 

“What do we have next?” One of your friends asks.

You open your mouth to answer but another jumps in, “We’ve got history after.”

“I haven’t finished the homework.” They stand up, “I’m gonna go to my locker and get my book.”

“We’ll go with you.” Everyone stands except you. “Oh, you’re still finishing your lunch? We’ll be right back.” 

You watch them turn and walk away, further, further and further, till you can’t see them anymore. You’re left with your lunch in front of you but you’ve suddenly lost your appetite. 

‘Let’s face it, it’s not the first time they’ve left you out.’ Your thoughts start to haunt you, but you can’t deny them. There’s an unbearable sting as the realisation grows on you. 

‘Maybe, just maybe, I’ve been alone this whole time.’ 

The World’s A Lonely Place 

My fellow Gen-Z’s, we have an existential crisis in the midst of our generation. Can you guess what it is? 

Yep, you’ve got it: it’s Loneliness

Although the example above doesn’t apply to everyone, we’ve become a victim to this desolate situation in some way or another. From friend groups to your immediate family; We can’t seem to escape the clasps of loneliness. 

“But there’s eight-billion people in this world, how can we be lonely? Isn’t that another 7,999,999,999 people to befriend?”

Yes, but even people with huge social networks tend to find themselves wandering into isolation too, because at the end of the day, we each have our own problems to face and our own ways of dealing with them. 

Our society is aware of its presence, but the way we’ve tried to address this issue… we are yet to succeed.

Anti-Social Media

“Need to talk to a relative across the world? Want to make new friends? Welcome to the digital world. Here, everything is accessible with a tap of the finger. Thanks to our new and advanced technology, we are now more connected than ever…”

Our teenage years have always indirectly been fed the “Instagram, AI, and gadgets-galore!” idea.

The introduction of apps such as Tik Tok and Snapchat, with the intention of connecting people in a more easier and convenient way, has unknowingly caused us to drift further apart. Now, we’ve become solely dependent on these devices to communicate with one another. But with every Snap we send and Instagram post we like, our purpose as social beings declines. 

We become lonelier and lonelier.

“Why do you say that? These apps are used worldwide, which means we’re connected with everyone!”

But how can we fix this problem with just a simple friend request? Or a single or few comments on someone’s Tik Tok? This is the truth our generation must face. We know oh too well that this is something all teens struggle with. But we’ve become unresponsive. We’re so comfortable in this life by now, surrounded by social media, we’re probably too scared to address the dilemma we’re currently in, afraid to acknowledge that we are in need of help.

The Battle of The Heart

“Soooo, what do you s’pose we do now? It sounds hopeless honestly, we might as well live in seclusion.”

Fight fire with fire.

“Hol’ up. Fire? You wanna use fire to penetrate the imaginary walls of loneliness or something?”

What if I said we were looking at it all wrong? What if our society had been looking through the wrong lens this whole time?

What we’re dealing with is like something under this one huge umbrella. Many outcomes due to one factor. And that factor is sin. 

God has made us as social beings who cannot live without fellowship with another of our kind. But sin has caused relationships to dissolve and communities to fall apart. 

It’s time to sound the alarm. This is our call to face our opponent on the battlefield: our world. But this isn’t a physical battle. It’s a spiritual fight – a battle of the heart. But first, we need a proper battle strategy. Let’s discover together the perfect tactic as a troop of Gen-Z teens against this broken postmodern age.

Samantha Winata (15) is one of the many teens that write in RE Generation-Z. She strives to share the light of the truth through her articles and bring more teens to Christ. If she isn’t reading or playing piano, you’ll find her filling the pages in her books with drawings.

“What is happiness?”

These are the three words my teacher asked in the middle of Geography class. The words ‘Gross National Happiness Index (GNH)’ was sprawled across the projected whiteboard. They weren’t new to us since we had been learning about the index in accordance with the subject of human wellbeing for the past few lessons.

The class launched into a heated conversation.

Ignoring the chatter, my teacher instructed us, “In your books, write a few things that define your happiness.”

My friends, for some reason, decided to take my book and scribble a rough mind map. With arrows here and there, they wrote to their heart’s content. I watched on (since there was no space for me to write) as they ran their pens all over the page. After just a few minutes, the entire paper was filled. 

I peered over their shoulders and took in the page’s contents. But as I stared at that piece of paper, I realised that all the things that they found to have contributed to their happiness were all materialistic things, or in other words, earthly things. 

From shopping, to Netflix, to relationships – you name it. As the teacher went around the class, asking each of us to share what we wrote down, I began to realise this: our human inclination is to fulfil our desires and search for happiness from things of this world. If I had made my own list or mind map, I bet I would’ve written down those things too. 

As teenagers growing up in a secular world, happiness is something we are constantly told to strive for. Whether it be found in money, success or fame, it has become a factor in giving meaning to someone’s life. But we fail to understand this one concept: this world is temporary and so is everything in it. It’s as simple as that, yet we all tend to forget as soon as we come face to face with our own earthly idols. We ignore the fact that we actually do realise that these things will never fully satisfy our desires because we always end up coming back for more. 

Did You Know #1: We only ever run to what the world provides, when searching for happiness, because we do not realise that true happiness is more than just what the eye can see.

But if it isn’t shopping, Netflix, relationships, or the like, what is happiness then? What can give us the everlasting satisfaction that we need?

Answer: The World is Not The Answer

Vanity. If you searched up the word in a dictionary, you would be given the definition “the quality of being worthless or futile”. 

Synonyms? Meaningless, useless…. you get the idea.

Did You Know #2: In Ecclesiastes, the preacher stresses that everything in this world is meaningless; All is in vain. He laments even in the very first few verses, “Vanity of vanities… vanity of vanities! All is vanity…” (Ecclesiastes 1:2).

This planet, though seemingly “just right”, will not and never will grant us eternal satisfaction. Because no matter how hard we try, all our efforts will be in vain.

We hunger and thirst for what the world has to offer and never think twice if the satisfaction they give is eternal or not. It may look appealing, and there may be pleasure involved, but just how long it lasts, we know oh too well. Yet, we find ourselves coming back for more even when we know how useless it is. 

It’s quite a typical scenario considering our human nature: we feel empty, we turn to the things the eye sees as pleasing, and we feel content or fulfilled, but once that fades we feel disappointed and empty once again; Then the cycle repeats. What a dead and pitiful state our human race is in! 

We should all ask ourselves this question, “What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:3).

Did You Know #3: The term “under the sun” refers to all things that are done with a purpose that is not purely Christ-centred. In this verse the preacher gets straight to the point; What does man gain from something that is meaningless?

There’s something missing…. something we must have looked over in this mission in search for happiness…. but what is it?

Answer: There’s Only One Answer

In this mission, we’ve been seeing it as multiple pieces that make up one big puzzle, but what if we shifted our perspective to look at it like this: 

Did You Know #4: In actual fact, this puzzle is only made up of one big piece…. and that piece is God.

No wonder! That’s why whenever we try to fill ourselves with worldly things, it simply doesn’t do anything. It may give some form of satisfaction, but a few enjoyable moments later, it’s all gone.

Blaise Pascal – a french philosopher, mathematician, scientist, inventor and theologian – once said this:

“There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.”

At the end of the day, there will always be that feeling that there is something missing inside of us. We were designed so that nothing and no one can fill that emptiness in our hearts, but One…. and it is none other than God.

Alongside all this, we have to know that the only reason we can call this “mission complete” is because of the grace that has been bestowed upon us. When we see just how sinful and unworthy we are we come to realise that, in fact, we don’t deserve happiness at all. What we should be getting is God’s ultimate wrath. Then it would become “mission abort”.

But because of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice on the cross, we are now eligible to obtain that true and everlasting happiness that can only be found in God. Praise the LORD for His wonderful, sovereign plan of salvation! 

Mission Accomplished!

Final Announcement: Mission accomplished!! Congratulations fellow crewmates!

Human endeavour in this world is but an endless and vicious cycle. But we can rest assured because we have found the source of eternal happiness – not just a one-time thing, but a joy that is everlasting. Our Father in Heaven. May this hope be with us as we continue our journey here on this earth.

I sat there in the car, gazing out the window, watching as the cars around us inched forward ever so slowly. It was one of those mornings where we were late and, much to our dismay, stuck in heavy traffic. Seeing that there was a possibility that we would be there for quite a while, I decided to catch up on some sleep. I laid back in my seat, and my eyes fluttered to a close……

“Monergism. Synergism.” I heard my dad say. Like every other morning, he was listening to a sermon from the internet radio station, ‘RefNet’. 

My eyes shot open, as my face scrunched up in confusion. “Mon…. Syner- what?”

Alert! New words unlocked: “Monergism” and “Synergism”. 

Two words that most of us probably haven’t come across before. Even if you have, they’re not words you would normally use. Such theological terms are, in fact, linked to another set of words that you may have heard in church when listening to sermons – the double bond of salvation: justification and sanctification. 

You must be thinking, “What?” Honestly, I, too, was bewildered when my dad first introduced me to those terms. But what do these words mean, and what do they have to do with us? Let us first start with monergism.

Regeneration by God Alone

Picture a clay vessel. It has been beautifully sculpted by the ceramicist and boasts a magnificent, unique form, the evidence of hours and effort poured into this creation. 

But overnight, this ceramic, which is unfinished, gradually turns bone dry and can no longer be moulded. It, obviously, cannot save itself and has no power at all to turn back to the malleable state it was in before, because it is not alive – It is dead. 

The ceramicist has every right to throw it away and start a new one, having many bags of clay at his disposal. But graciously, he decides to save it by using a spray bottle to sprinkle the clay with drops of water, thus reviving it. Once again, it is the soft clay that is able to be moulded by the ceramicist.  

We are, in fact, that clay vessel while the ceramicist is God. Here explains the new beginning for those whose lives have been ruined by sin, and harbour a hardened heart. But, in our inanimate state, we take no part in this new birth – It is the ceramicist alone who acts to revive the hardened vessel; to regenerate us. 

You may know that regeneration is actually quite a controversial topic. Many religions believe that they can be saved by their good works; that the more good deeds they perform, the more eligible they are to be accepted by God and go to heaven. But as Christians, we believe otherwise. 

The word “monergism” refers to, as you may have figured out, justification. With the word deriving from the term “mono”, meaning “single”, it is a concept explaining that it is God alone who acts to regenerate us, without our cooperation. This is because we are incapable of bringing about our own justification. Just as the clay vessel could not turn itself back to its former state, we too cannot turn ourselves into a righteous being. 

Because the fact of the matter is, if God does not intervene, not even one will seek for Him (Romans 3:11). And our efforts can’t miraculously make us righteous either. The seriousness of sin is so great that we, in ourselves, can do nothing to make up for them. The only thing that could save us from our miserable state, to pay the price of our sins, was Christ’s death on the cross. 

We don’t do good works to be saved, but we are saved to do good works. Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:10, 

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” 

And in Ephesians 2:8 – 9 Paul reminds us that,

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”

So now we are justified, having gone through the double imputation – Christ’s righteousness is imputed onto us and our sins imputed onto Him. We are no longer seen as the filthy and sinful beings we once were but as blameless before the eyes of the Lord. The End–

Hold up! It’s not over yet. You may think that this should be where we wrap up the story, but we are far from finished – because this journey of salvation has only just begun. 

Play Your Part

Have you ever heard of the saying “It takes two to tango”? Well, it pretty much explains this next term we are about to learn, which is “synergism”. Once we have been regenerated, we don’t just dust our hands off, say, “That’s that!”, and go back to how we used to live. Surprise, surprise! There’s a second part to this story, and it certainly isn’t a brief one. 

“Synergism” – a word that comes from the Greek term “synergos”, meaning working together – refers to sanctification. It’s not something that happens just once, but is a lifelong journey. And in this lifelong journey, we are a part of a relationship with God, a partnership in our faith. Now, it is not only Party A (which in this instance is God) who does all the work – we, as Party B, must have a part in it too! 

Some may think accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour instantaneously changes our lives. But we do not transform just like that, as if it were a switch of a light. Maturity takes time, and so does growing in Christ. As we go through struggle after struggle, God, day by day, renews our minds to think more like Christ, growing us to become spiritually stronger; and synergism explains that these changes need our response. 

If there is no response from us, our faith is at a complete standstill. 

It is written in James 2:26 that “faith without deeds is dead.” We cannot expect to grow in our Christian life without making an effort to respond to God’s calling, because we need to work out our salvation (Philippians 2:12). It takes the cooperation of both partners to execute a dance, just like the saying,  “it takes two to tango”. Once we are saved, we do not just wait around till we die. This part of our salvation includes our efforts. This is what we call synergistic, because it includes both parties doing something. God’s part is to open the door for us, but we will not get anywhere if we do not step through the doorway ourselves. 

If this partnership is going to work, you are required to “play your part”. What is our part, our duty in this relationship? John 14:15 puts it plainly: 

“If you love me, keep my commands.”

Our response, then, is our active obedience. In short: if you love God, do what He says. 

An example can be your daily devotions. God will leave it to you to make that commitment to wake up early and read your Bible, and God will carry out His role to open our minds to help us to understand the meaning of the Scriptures. 

Sanctification is a process that takes relatively longer than we would have expected, and sometimes, it may seem like it is rather fruitless. But when the ceramicist, after reviving the clay, continues to mould the vessel, though it does take a while, the creation eventually gets stronger and stronger. Our spiritual growth is a lot like this clay vessel. It is a slow but sure process.

Work in Progress

The ceramicist is currently still shaping us. We are a work in progress! We, as the vessel, will be brought to completion on the day Christ returns (Philippians 1:6). No matter where we are in this journey of salvation, we can rest assured because we are in His perfect hands. We can cling to the hope and be sure that whoever God calls, He will not fail to sanctify.

Samantha Winata (15) is one of the many teens that write in RE Generation-Z. She strives to share the light of the truth through her articles and bring more teens to Christ. If she isn’t reading or playing piano, you’ll find her filling the pages in her books with drawings.

We’re nearing the end of February, but the year still feels quite new! We’ve turned to a fresh page in our books, a new chapter in our lives. We’ve written up new goals and plans for 2022 (my friends have even started to plan for the next summer holidays!). We’ve gotten rid of old habits and adopted new ones. 

Yet, even after going through all these, we’re still not as enthusiastic about the new year as we were before… But why?

Because right now, we are living through uncertain times. Wearing masks, sanitizing hands, social distancing, checking in, showing proof of vaccinations, and an extra one that most of us get asked, “Are you under sixteen?”

All of a sudden, they’ve all become the norms in today’s society. Covid hit us when we least expected it, and now we find ourselves staying at home more often, despite the fact that there’s no lockdown; We’re either too scared to meet up with friends or our plans are abruptly canceled, and as we flick on the TV on to watch the news, the screen is instantly filled with headlines flashing: “New Case Identified”.

Some of us may start to question, “Where is God in all of this? Why is He letting all this happen? Is God even still here?” 

A Play Gone Wrong…. Or Has It?

Imagine this. We are an audience watching a play. But this isn’t just any play. It’s a play representing our world – and God is the director. The play starts, and it’s smooth sailing for most of the performance. We’re lying back in our seats, enjoying the show. 

But out of nowhere, an accident occurs (and a rather unfortunate one at that). We’re on the edge of our seats as we watch the whole play seemingly fall apart. We’re unable to take our eyes off the stage, which seems to be full of chaos and confusion with actors going haywire. Suddenly from the audience there comes a cry, “Where’s the director? Why isn’t He stopping the performance?” There was no doubt that it was what we were all thinking. It seemed as if everything that could’ve gone wrong, was going wrong…. 

Or so we thought.

Disastrous events happen one after another, and the director is still a no-show…. or at least there aren’t any obvious actions to take control of the situation. A person sitting in one of the front row seats leans forward, squinting, as they try to get a better view. Their eyes go wide and they shout to the rest of the audience, “Hey, I don’t think it was an accident. Look closely!” At first, we couldn’t understand what they were talking about. But as we pay closer attention to what is happening, we experience an epiphany. “Ohhh,” We say. “I get it now; It was a part of the play!” 

Now put it like this: the “big accident” in this analogy is Covid. This pandemic has given us a big blow, and we were certainly not ready for it. We’ve faced many challenges; some have even lost their jobs and become unable to feed themselves, let alone feed their families. We are quick to think, “Why is this happening? Why is God not doing anything to stop all this suffering?”. We become oblivious to the fact that it might be a part of God’s plan, just like how the audience had no idea that there was a “big accident” included in the script and thought that the play had gone wrong. Then the audience started to wonder if the director was even there, when in fact, He was controlling the play the whole time. Why didn’t He stop the play? Because it was He Himself who wrote the script to have a “big accident” in it. 

In the midst of all the panicking due to Covid, we turn a blind eye to one simple fact: God ordains ALL things, including this pandemic. 

All the anxiousness gets to us, and we start to see things as if everything is going wrong. When our focus is directed towards our fears, we fail to remember God’s authority and that He is in total control. We may not understand at times why this is all happening – like how the audience was puzzled as to why the play turned out the way it did – but God (the director) knows far better than us. 

Especially during these times of doubt, we must learn to put our trust in Him. The future ahead of us may seem unpredictable and turbulent, but we can rest assured because we know that in God’s sovereignty, all things will be worked out to His will; His good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2).

A Backstage Pass

Romans 8:28 states, 

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” 

All things, including good and bad circumstances, will work together for the good of those who love God. Even Covid. 

There are many instances in life where we doubt that anything good would come out of times of trouble. This is because, by default, our human nature causes us to be narrow-minded, and we become incapable of understanding God’s ways, for they are far too complex for us to grasp. 

We read in Isaiah 55:8-9, 

“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’”

But sometimes, in His mercy, God opens our minds to understand a tiny part of why He lets certain things happen….

…. and we would feel like we had just made a huge discovery. 

This was exactly what happened to me just a few weeks ago. Personally, I have found that if this pandemic did not happen, I wouldn’t have learnt the importance of putting our faith in God during troubling times. Furthermore, I wouldn’t have realized how much of a blessing it is to be able to go to church and have fellowship with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Have you ever stopped to think whether Covid could be a “blessing in disguise”? Have you been able to spend more time with your family? More time to focus on God’s word? I hope that we may all take the time to wonder, as unlikely as it seems, what blessings we have been given through Covid. 

It’s a lot like having a backstage pass. You get to see a little part of the director’s plan, the “behind-the-scenes.” And you realise that if the “big accident” hadn’t occurred, other beneficial things wouldn’t have happened either.

Our Play Continues

The play we are a part of, called “reality,” has not yet ended. We’re still going! Yes, we may be living through unwanted circumstances at the moment, but we can be at peace because God has written the script, and that script from eternity past to eternity future has always been and will be perfect. Let this be our reassurance as we continue to strive through these times of uncertainty. 

May it be so that, if it is God’s will, when this pandemic is all over, we will say, “‘Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.’” (Isaiah 25:9).

Samantha Winata (15) is one of the many teens that write in RE Generation-Z. She strives to share the light of the truth through her articles and bring more teens to Christ. If she isn’t reading or playing piano, you’ll find her filling the pages in her books with drawings.