“Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.”
Most of us can still hear the blurry and bluish hologram speaking these words in the original Star Wars.
This call for help that captures Luke’s imagination. He had no idea who she was. Was this Obi Wan the crazy old Ben Kenobi?
The desire for answers to these questions drove Luke down a path that kicked off one of the great movie franchisees of all time.
As we are going through these rough times as a nation, Americans are looking for hope as well.
Leia’s Hope Was In A Man She Hardly Knew
We are not far into the movie when we finally hear the whole message that R2D2 has in his “rusty innards”.
General Kenobi, years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to present my father’s request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack and I’m afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.
As you can see from her message, Leia has no firsthand knowledge of what Ben was able to do. She relied on what her father had told her about him.
Many people see this as our most desperate hour and are searching for hope.
People today have little to no firsthand knowledge of the candidates. We have only what the media and the spin doctors for the campaign tell us. Yet people are clinging to the hope that one candidate or another will bring us hope and change.
American Christians Are In Danger
Many American Christians are in danger of putting their hopes in the wrong person.
Christians, including myself, are rightly concerned about the direction of our country. The election on November 2016 will influence our nation for generations to come for a number of reasons.
The next president will most likely appoint at least two, if not more, judges to the Supreme Court, thus shaping the legal landscape for generations.
The problem is, no one on the ballot is perfect. Christians are putting their hope in an imperfect candidate as being the one to turn our country around and make it great again.
While we as Americans need to vote, that is not the best course of action.
So what are we to do? The simplest and most effective thing for us to do is pray.
We can’t put our hope for this nation in either candidate.
We need to live out the Great Commission and make disciples out of all people. As disciples of Jesus, we will have the power of God working in our hears and the hearts of others.
Who or what is your “only hope”?
In 1 Timothy 1:1 we read “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope”.
Paul opens up his letter to Timothy by declaring that Jesus Christ is our hope- both personally and for this world.
If we make Jesus our only hope, He will lead us on a journey that will change our life and will bring about the greatest adventure we can possibly know.
We know from James 4:14 that “For [we] are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” Life and all things in it are temporary.
The Struggle
To be brutally honest, I struggle making Jesus my only hope.
Often I put my hope and trust in my own abilities. It’s up to me to earn money in order to provide for my self and my family. Or at times, I’ll trust in martial arts training to feel safe and secure in a less than safe situation.
At times I put my hope our political leaders that they will finally come back to their senses and make laws that are more in line with the Bible.
It’s naive of me to think so. But I do think it, from time to time.
I think we are all like Leia at times. She put her trust in a former general in Jedi Knight, based on what he did years ago. She had no firsthand knowledge of what he did. She knew that "years ago you serve my father in the clone wars".
We look back at what candidates have done in the past and make assumptions about how they will perform in the future.
What To Do
You and I need to learn to put our hope, not in what laws are passed or what great things we can do as a nation, but truly to put our hope in Jesus.
I know that when you put your hope in a person, you’ll be disappointed.
Jesus is no lowly Jedi Master; He is the master of the universe. He is God’s Son and He will never let you down.
Today is a day to proclaim “Help me Jesus Christ, You’re my only hope”.
The above post is a revised version of this post from November 2014.
