A good morning in the universe (or at least my universe)

 

Started the day off with a few cups of steaming hot caf this morning.  Always a good way to start.  Certainly helps when that caf is accompanying a chapter of the Bible and a good devotional.

My devotional may sound odd to some, but I read a chapter a day of the Bible (currently reading 1 Chronicles, then a chapter from a book, “Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters”, from Dick Staub.

Now, the Jedi book may seem the weird part, but it’s actually really informative.  Today’s chapter was about trusting.  The SW quote was from Qui-Gon Jinn to Anakin when he said, “Concentrate on the moment.  Feel, don’t think. Use your instincts.”  The Biblical comparison he used was Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord…and He will guide your path.”

This particular lesson hit home with me in regards to a recent conversation I had with someone.  During a conversation, someone I know admitted to feeling like a failure and having apprehension over a work situation.  I had reminded this individual of something I recently heard in church, “To live you must die to yourself.”  I was trying to remind them that we can not trust on ourselves and our own knowledge and strength in many situations.

Despite this person’s claim to trusting in God, they said it was still hard not to stop thinking about the situation and being worried.  To which I replied that they may not truly be leaning on and trusting God.  He’s powerful, and fills us, flows through us, and gives us strength.  When we truly lean on and trust in God, we have no reason to worry about anything!

Matthew 6:25-34

New International Version (NIV)

Do Not Worry

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

As Christians, we must recognize that God is the source of our strength, the source of our comfort, and the source of our understanding of things.  What we don’t know and understand isn’t because we’re unable to, it’s because we aren’t meant to.  Yet.  We do not come by these things on our own.  And when we let the things of this world overwhelm us, fill us with fear, worry, and apprehension, we are trusting on our own selves and “our” knowledge to get us though.

The inherent problem is that we are human.  And thus, by definition (no thanks to that Dark-side master Satan), we are fallible.  But the Lord of the Force (yeah, that’s right, I mean God!) is infallible.  And when we stumble, fail, and are too weak to do things on our own, we MUST trust in Him and lean on Him.  When we let the Lord of the Force (yeah, live with the SW references.  I like that book!) flow through us, those worries will be swept away, and a power greater than ourselves, the power that created the universe (Sorry, Stephen H., but the universe was created by God at the speed of His thought.) will handle anything we can’t.

 

May the Lord of the Force be with you.