Be mindful of your thoughts, Anakin, they betray you

While Obi-Wan and Anakin are protecting Senator PadmĆ© in Attack of the Clones, Anakin mentions how being around her is “intoxicating.”

Obi-wan reminds him to “Be mindful of your thoughts, Anakin, they betray you. You’ve made a commitment to the Jedi order, a commitment not easily broken.”

We see how “things of this world” started to pull Anakin away from the life that he says he is committed to.

Christian Commitment

As believers, what does Deuteronomy 6:5 call us to commit to? We are to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

What about what Jesus said in Matthew 22:35-40?

And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him (Jesus) a question to test Him. ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ And He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.ā€

How Can We Live This

How do we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind as Deuteronomy 6:5 instructs?

How do we love with our heart? We obey and believe. Perfect obedience and faith are impossible, but we can be like the man in Mark 9:24 who cried out “I believe; help my unbelief!”

How do we love with our soul? Our soul is our whole being. To love God with our passions, hungers, perceptions, and thoughts.

How do we love with our mind? We need to be intellectual and renew our minds as we are instructed to do in Romans 12:2.

What are things that pull you away from God? In Luke 8:14 explains the parable of the sower. “And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.”

We will never live a perfect life this side of heaven. That does not mean we should give up. When we fall, we must ask for forgiveness and get back up.

Read Hebrews 11, theā€œFaith Hall of Fame,ā€ to see the list of faithful believers that lived committed to God even though they messed up as we have.

How can we be committed like them?