Faith Is Not A Force

Passage

"And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." So the Lord said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."
Luke 17:5-6 (NKJV)

Pondering

When Star Wars first came out I remember preachers comparing it’s message with the teachings of the Bible. Good versus evil like in the Bible, the dark side and the light side of the force like the kingdom of Satan and the Kingdom of God and faith in Satan or faith in God.

Unfortunately this is a complete misunderstanding of the Bible. The Bible never presents a dualism of good versus evil, but an initially good creation by an uncreated, almighty God. Later His angelic creation, Lucifer, rebels and becomes Satan, taking a third of the angels with him. Satan is not the diametric opposite of God but a pale created negative wannabe god with only one third of the original angelic force behind him. Faith is nothing like the FORCE portrayed in Star Wars. The FORCE is more of a new age or Gnostic view than a Biblical one where we must pray and fast and believe God enough to rise up in the ranks of faith from a spiritual padawan to eventually become a Christian Jedi master!

Biblical faith is simply trusting in God and taking His Word and obeying it out of love. Even if we trust Him as little as a mustard seed then He can perform mighty miracles through us according to His will (uprooting trees and casting mountains into the sea).

Poem

Faith is not a Force which grows as we ascend the ranks of God,
But it is childlike faith that clings to the Shepherd and yields to His staff and rod.
It's not a growing power that grows as we master the faith,
But it is God moving mountains as we trust and seek His face.

Prayer

"Lord, help me to trust you like a child, that even if my trusting obedience is as small as a mustard seed I know you will work miracles through me. Amen!"