After his podrace win, Anakin was freed by Watto. Shmi asks if he is to become a Jedi. Qui-Gon agrees.
Qui-Gon kneels next to him and tells him, “Anakin, training to be a Jedi will not be an easy challenge. And even if you succeed, it’s a hard life.”
While Anakin is excited to become a Jedi. The hard reality of what it will take is revealed too soon for his comfort.
The first hardship Anakin faces is leaving his mother behind as a slave. He starts walking away with Qui-Gon and stops. He cannot do it. Anakin turns back and runs to his mom. After promising to come back and free her, Shmi says, “Now be brave, and don’t look back… don’t look back.”
Being a Christian is not an easy challenge, either. Just as Anakin was excited at first to leave Tatooine and become a Jedi, he slowly comes to terms with what it means to leave his old life behind him.
As believers, we often have joy upon first believing, and then we begin to realize what it means to give up our old life and follow Jesus. That joy often fades because we look back.
Jesus tells us in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”
A few verses later, in Luke 9:62, Jesus says, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
We are to make a significant sacrifice to become a follower of Jesus. This deep commitment is required because we are told by Jesus that “in the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
This passage from John 16:33b should both frighten and comfort us because we will have trouble, but Jesus has already overcome it.”
Take heart today.
