Guys love to watch light-saber duals in star wars and supernatural fighting acrobatics in the Matrix. I think it’s because we feel like we were made to defend and fight for something in epic battles ourselves.
I’ve been discouraged lately at how weak my soul is. When a temptation comes my way, i so easily give in. It seems like a hopeless battle against an impossible onslaught of ammunition.
C.S. Lewis says (in Mere Christianity) “for however important chastity (or courage, or truthfulness, or any other virtue) may be, this process [trying to resist temptations] trains us in habits of the soul which are more important still.”
Our sins can have earthly consequences but our souls live forever. What if each temptation coming my way is an opportunity for training and strengthening my soul. I picture myself learning to wield a light saber. I can deflect every laser that comes my way with a well executed swing. And with every laser that i deflect away, my skills are honed to be a little bit tighter and more masterful. And even if I err on some strokes and the onslaught singes my soul, I learn from them too.
Seeing my soul as an eternal entity that can even today begin the long training to become a Jedi, a Neo, or any other warrior that battles evil with perfected skill gives me a new inspiration to try again. Eventually, we trust that our skills do reach into the supernatural and our efforts will overpower all things natural, because our power is from God.
So lately I’ve pictured myself poised, clumsily holding a light saber. And when an arrow or a laser of temptation barrels towards me, I swing my saber with a quick, determined, purposeful stroke, deflecting the temptation and taking pride in my first steps of becoming a warrior batting better than 50 for God. Not because he needs me to fight in order to win but because my soul was fashioned in the beginning of time to take part in His epic war.
Raw Spoon
