May the Force be with you…..

Another great post by Brad Stanton at Give Me 5 Minutes. I felt my comment would be too long so I decided to post about it.

The interesting thing is that it’s much easier to have faith in a “force” that is outside of ourselves, than to have faith that the “force” is within. Most of us continue to believe in a God that is somehow separate from ourselves, or that we are separate entities from God. That is what we have been taught, isn’t it?

Theology may have taught us that, but Jesus was trying to teach something more when he said to the Jews who wished to stone him, “Is it not written in your own Law, ‘I said: You are God’s'?” (John 10:34) He was referring to Psalm 82:6 which reads, “This is my sentence: God’s you may be, sons all of you of a high God,…” Through out the Gospels Jesus tries to get his disciples and the Jews to understand that God dwells within, and that only our perverse or divided thoughts and feelings prevent God from manifesting in our lives.

Believing that there is a God, a creator, a force out there, is easy and requires little responsibility. Believing that God the creator, “the force” dwells within us requires taking responsibility for what that means: cleaning up the temple. As Jesus said, “There must be no limit to your goodness, as your Heavenly Father’s goodness knows no bounds.” (Matt. 5:48)*

You won’t often hear me quoting the Bible, not because of lack of belief, but because I feel it’s too often misunderstood and misused. I studied the Bible a lot in my 20′s, and I have referred to it often for guidance, or a reminder and refresher when I’ve become distracted by the illusions of this world. It is so easy to forget who we are and where the power comes from, to lose faith in ourselves and the indwelling of that which is holy.

I really appreciate this post by Brad Stanton as it reminds me once again that “the Force” of creation dwells within, that we exist as co-creators of our lives, and that “faith” has as much to do with belief in ourselves as it has to do with belief in the Original Creator.

* All quotes taken from the Oxford Study Edition of The New English Bible.