After Anakinâs return to the Owenâs moisture farm, Padme brings him some food and drink while he is in the workroom. As they talk, Anakin asks Padme âWhyâd she (his mother) have to die? Why couldn’t I save her? I know I could have.
Padme tells him that âSometimes there are things no one can fix. You’re not all-powerful.â Overwhelmed with emotion, Anakin shouts back, âWell I should be. Someday I will be I will be the most powerful Jedi ever. I promise you. I will even learn to stop people from dying.â
Anakin could not come to terms with his limits. If he had accepted that he would always be imperfect, that would have given him the freedom to keep growing but his demand for his own perfection prevented any growth.
The Apostle Paul had spent a lifetime striving to obey Godâs law perfectly. His Damascus road encounter with Jesus changed him and everything he thought about being âperfectâ under the law.
Paul shares his change in Galatians 1:11-17 and lists his âcredentialsâ in Philippians 3:1-6 but then in 3:7 he tells us âBut whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.â
For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
~Galatians 1:11-17
Paul knew that no one could ever be perfect enough the become righteous before God. In Galatians 2:16 he tells us âyet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.â
We might share Anakinâs desire to be the most powerful/righteous Christian ever, we will never be able to do it on our own. In fact, the more we try on our own, the further away we are. We need to be like Paul who said in Galatians 2:20a “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
A great reminder
Psalm 24 in verse 1 says â The earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof the world and those who live in it.â
All power belongs to God and no matter how powerful man may think he/ she is, there are limits. Godâs power is limitless.,That is why we must always give glory to God for whatever fit we achieve. That way we can do the impossible through Him.
I used to depend on my strength, power, knowledge and gifts but I realised that I need Godâs guiadiance and help of the Holy Spirit to solve a lot of the issue and progress.
Iwoje