The Force – Newsletter Article for February 2012

As it turns out, the Bible is right. I know, what a surprise. Jesus said the first commandment was this: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself”. It seems so simple really. I wonder though, when I go out and about in my daily life, do I really believe that? I have often heard that I have to “go out and reach the lost for Jesus”, you know, get out there and pound the pavement like a salesman. I wonder though, whether reaching the lost this way is God’s idea, or mans idea. We are taught as we grow up, that we can get whatever we want out of life, we just have to work for it. Ok, I get it, life is about work and seeking reward for good work done for our employer. So, it makes sense that we would naturally carry over that attitude and training into our life as a “servant” of Jesus Christ. But, I would like to point out that in the verse I quoted above, it doesn’t say anything about doing or going at all, it says only that we are to Love. Love is an interesting word. We usually think of it as an feeling, and so it is, but it is so much more. Ok, in this one short article, I obviously cannot dig deeply into all the senses in which we are called to Love, but I do have one point to make. In John 15:5, Jesus says: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing“. Jesus is saying essentially that He is doing the work through our physical bodies when we are “allowing” Him to work through us, and in the second half, He is saying that whatever “we” do without allowing Him to work through us is worthless (spiritually). I added the spiritually because we all know how to put on our shoes without asking God to doit for us. What we cannot do is save anyone or convince anyone to give their heart to Jesus. Only the holy Spirit can do that.

Finally, I know that many of you have heard me or someone else say these things, probably many times, but I can tell you from my own experience, that “let go and let God” is not a concept that is easily grasped on a truly personal level.

So, may the Force (God) be with you, and may you be in the Force (God), because without the Force (God), you can do nothing!

In all things Praise the Lord!