In a commencement address this past spring, an American TV host and author reminded the graduating class of one of the hallmarks of their generation: recognizing and calling out the systems and institutions they feel need fixing. But, he added, that isn’t really the assignment. The assignment isn’t to deconstruct but to reconstruct. In other words, we help our communities not by simply pointing out the problems but by participating in fixing them. By helping to heal and rebuild.

Doesn’t this apply to all of us—college students or not? We live in a time when opinions, “hot takes,” and personal commentary are a regular part of how we relate to the world and each other. But how do we shift from being mainly observers and deconstructors to being participants and reconstructors? It starts with our standpoint.

If you’re interested in discovering more about this standpoint, you might think of Jesus as the model. Jesus definitely wasn’t afraid to call out the things he saw as needing redemption—hypocrisy, ego, immorality, greed, and injustice, to name a few. He didn’t hesitate to identify these failings. But it is the intent behind his observations that’s so noteworthy. As the best representative of God’s redeeming power that the world has ever known, Christ Jesus, in his own words, did “not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). He came to demonstrate the law of divine Love. Rather than tearing down or shaming others, Jesus awakened, redeemed, and healed them.