Strange as it may seem, I was recently led by the Lord to purchase and read two books from the Star Wars: The High Republic series, one the Young Adult novel, the other written for an adult audience. To be honest, I had somewhat planned on skipping this series and hadn’t read or seen anything from it, and it wouldn’t have crossed my mind to read these particular books except the Lord pointed them out and let me know I needed to read them. Both of them. I’ll be honest further, I wasn’t impressed with the writing, the story lines, or the characters for the most part. But about halfway through the first one I read, I understood why I was supposed to read them. Through the lessons being taught to the Jedi in the novels, the Lord was trying to reinforce some truths to me and help me work through some things as well. These are the lessons which stood out the most:
1) Jesus Christ chose you. He chose you to be His living incarnation, a member of His body, His conduit and channel; but you must also choose Jesus Christ. We cannot be His disciples if we do not choose Him; if we do not choose Him over property or possessions, if we do not choose Him over family members and loved ones, if we do not choose Him over our personal self-interests, ideas, desires, and so forth. Jesus Christ summoned us, but we must answer His summons and let go of whatever else we were holding onto.
2) Love always demands that you let go. Not push away, but let go. Let the object of that love be free to make their own choices, to rise or fall as they will, and to be there if and when they return. There is no attachment, no clinging, in love. Attachment is about what we want, what pleases us. Love is about what is best for the other person, and everyone around you in general. Attachment is the opposite, the antithesis of love.
Agape and attachment, or clinging, are two totally different things. Attachment looks out for the other's interests because the other pleases me in some way, or the other is important to my identity in some way. Agape looks out for the other's interests because it chooses to, and for no other ulterior reason or motive. Agape is completely devoid of selfishness, self interest, or self-centeredness. Agape will want the best for the person from whom it has no benefit, no personal profit, or even the person who becomes violent or harmful to it. Even in relation to oneself, agape is always looking outward to the things of others, and treats oneself as the other, wanting the best for it without being attached to it.
Attachment fails when there is no longer self-interest to maintain it. When the thing or person ceases to please or becomes displeasing, the attachment fades or inverts to aversion where we become attached to the removal of the thing or person. Attachments to anything or anyone are in no one’s best interests, least of all the interests of the person who has the attachment. Agape does not fail, but neither does it cling. It lets go, and never seeks to hold onto anyone or anything. It seeks the best outcome for the other, all others, as well as oneself even if it must remove oneself from the equation. It weeps with those who weep, laughs with those who laugh, mourns with those who mourn, rejoices with those who rejoice, and does this all while not gripping these others for its own pleasure or happiness.
3) How do I say this so that it's not confusing? Many of us believe, consciously or unconsciously, that there's a right "path" for each of us individually in life as though it had been predetermined, and if we just do the right things and take the right steps we'll be alright and find what we're looking for.
In this respect, this kind of path doesn't exist. It's an illusion the human mind creates based on how the stories of others have gone, not taking into account that those others were writing their own stories as they lived them. Each one of us makes his own path by the choices that we make each and every moment. God the Father certainly knows what our outcomes are going to be, but not because He predetermined them. He knows what choices we're going to make because time moves through Him, He can clearly see the whole stretch and tapestry of time laid out in front of Him, but it is a tapestry woven, at least in part, by the choices we as sentient beings with free will make and it pleases Him for us to make them of our own accord. But we still have to make those choices in order for them to come about.
We each walk our own individual paths, this is true. But unless the Path walks us, we walk those paths blindly. Unless it is Jesus Christ, the Path, through His Spirit with whom we have been made one walking His Path through us, then we walk our own paths as blind and deaf people stumbling and groping around in the darkness unable to see or hear. Unless it is Jesus Christ, with our explicit or implicit permission, influencing those choices and making those choices for us as we submit to Him, then our individual paths which we make lead only into more darkness.
There is no path predetermined for any one of us individually, so in that respect, you cannot get lost. But without The Path walking you, you will grope around in the darkness lost or not.
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