I grew up a huge, absolutely huge, Star Wars fan. I love that movie. When I was a kid, I had all the characters, all the little action figures. So one of the things that happened is I passed them on to my kids to let them play with them.
Star Wars was 40 years ago, but it still resonates with me, it still resonates with my kids. Why is that?
Well, there’s a couple of things that come out. One, Luke Skywalker is the hero. And we all have this desire deep down in us to be seen as the hero. Well, maybe not all of us. But I’m going to tell you, I do. So then if I do then maybe you do too.
I want to be the guy that comes in and saves the day. But one of the things about Luke’s journey as he’s becoming the hero is that he doesn’t do it alone. What he discovers is what they call in the movie, the force. Something that is there standing behind him to help him uncover his potential and uncover his ability to become the hero. And we have the same thing in our lives today.
Nahum 1:7 says: “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. And He knows those who trust in Him.” There are troubles all around us, so where do we find our stronghold? Luke in his adventures in Star Wars learns how to use the force and that becomes his stronghold. But that’s a movie, that’s fiction. We have the force in our own life, and that is God and the Holy Spirit speaking into our life every single day if we will embrace it.
What God invites us to is the opportunity to be the hero in the story that He’s telling if we will slow down and listen to what He’s saying and listen to how He speaks to us. But do we go to that source or do we try and do it on our own?
I don’t know if you remember the scene in Empire Strikes Back where Luke is training with Yoda and he’s going down into the pit and Yoda’s like, “Hey, don’t take your weapons. You’re not going to need them.” But Luke takes them anyway. And I think of this as God is giving us instruction every single day about how we’re to go into situations.
And for Luke, it turns out that’s a really poor situation—some darkness happens inside of that place. And where in our life do we go into situations, into places, if we would stop and listen to God, God has given us instructions? But we’re not listening.
Where in our lives can we pay more attention and where does it start? Well, it starts by slowing down. It starts by just being quiet and listening. So can you take 5-10 minutes each day and just stop and listen for God and listen for His Holy spirit to speak? Can you use the force that’s been given to us in this time?
And in that we have the opportunity to write a story alongside God. A story that has the ability to transform us because we’re listening. And as we listen, we’re transformed. A story that will transform today, a story that will transform tomorrow, a story that will transform eternity.