The Jedi Christian

Jedi Christian

The word “christian” has been diluted over the years since Jesus ascended and His first followers lived out their faith. Jesus called them disciples, which means they had certain disciplines they kept. It was a way of life they learned as they followed Jesus around and He did His thing. Another way of putting it was that they were His apprentices.

It was not easy. They lived in tumultuous times. Often their lives were on the line, but they kept doing what they’d seen Jesus do, what He had taught them to do.

In fact, they acted so much like Jesus that, in one region, the people called them little Jesuses as a term of slander. The word they used was, “Christian.” Instead of being offended by the name, the disciples readily received the term, and referred to themselves as Christians. The name stuck.

Now “Christian” can mean so many different things to different people. But what we lose most often, well at least in the West where we still have it pretty easy, is the discipline that truly following Jesus requires.

In the Eastern countries there are disciplines such as in martial arts. If you want to learn T’ai Chi, for example, you begin to study with a certain teacher. The teacher gives you practices to do daily, a routine to help you learn and grow in your discipline. The teacher will also pass along wisdom from former Masters up the line from them, for they also follow those Masters.  

I began learning T’ai Chi some years ago. My teacher, Julie Cisler, studied under Ray Hayward, who studied under T. T. Liang, who is a Master in the Yang style of T’ai Chi. (I believe Ray Hayward is now a Master as well). I approached T’ai Chi as just a form of exercise. I didn’t give it the time or discipline it takes. Needless to say, I didn’t continue, and am not on the road to becoming a Master of T’ai Chi.

To become a Master takes decades of study and practice.

I have always seen Star Wars as a good picture of Christianity. The Force is the Holy Spirit, of course, leading us. In the original movie, IV, there are several scenes where Luke has to learn the ways of a Jedi. He has to practice and train. He has to learn not to trust his own instincts, but to trust the Force to guide him instead.

What an excellent picture of what we are to be. Christians are disciples of Jesus, the physical form of the invisible God. When Jesus left (physically) He left us the Holy Spirit to continue to teach us and lead us in all His ways, God’s ways.

-We have a code of conduct to follow.

-We have practices such as reading the Bible, Prayer, Fasting, Silence, Listening, Obedience, etc. which hone our abilities and make us stronger in the ways of Jesus and in the power of the Spirit.

-We are expected to show others this Way of the One they called “The Way, The Truth, and The Life”

-We are expected to love the way He loved and to give ourselves for the sake of others like He did.

All Christians are called to be Jedi Christians. We are not just part of the Rebellion (which is also a great picture of Christianity—a group of people living out God’s ways of light in the midst of a dark force which governs the Universe), we are the Jedi knights who fight on behalf of that Rebellion.

Attending church two hours a week doesn’t cut it.

Are you a Jedi Christian? Am I?