Morals of the Clone Wars 3.7: Assassin

Moral: “The future has many paths–choose wisely.”

Every choice we make has consequences. Sometimes our choices are easy and obvious. Sometimes they are obvious, but difficult. Sometimes they are just difficult–whether they be choosing the lesser of two evils or choosing between two great options. Sometimes we choose well. Sometimes we don’t.

The good news is there is always grace. God is a God of second chances. He forgives and gives grace. There are still consequences for our choices, but He doesn’t give up on us.

Still we must strive to choose wisely.

Morals of the Clone Wars 3.6: The Academy

Moral: “Those who enforce the law must obey the law.”

There is a lot of hypocrisy in this world. We’re aware of it. Doctors tell us to be healthy–but they go out and smoke during their break. Priests tell us to be celibate–but some have molested children. And the church tells us not to sin, but everyone in the church still sins.

This frustrates many people. But we shouldn’t expect it not to be so…church is for sinners. Even though we follow God, we will still mess up at times. But we don’t revel in our sin. We keep striving for godliness. And we acknowledge our sins, not sweeping them under a rug and ignoring them.

Morals of the Clone Wars 3.5: Corruption

Moral: “The challenge of hope is to overcome corruption.”

It’s hard to stay sin-free. God gives us grace, but He also expects that we don’t devalue Christ’s sacrifice, but rather that we strive for perfection. To ward off the corruption of sin, we must stay rooted in Christ and a spiritual community. We need daily (minute-ly) time with God to remember who we are in Him and who He calls us to be. We need other followers of Christ around us (not just on Sundays) because we need others to walk alongside us.

Morals of the Clone Wars 3.4: Sphere of Influence

Moral: “A child stolen is a lost hope.”

Too many children today are being kidnapped or sold into prostitution. Human Trafficking is a terrible savage act that should not be happening today. Yet it is. Many are standing up to fight against those who are violating our children in this way. Much has yet to be done. (Visit humantrafficking.org or trafficfree.org for more info.)

I wonder how often we think of the less obvious ways are children are stolen from us. Possibly from the “need” for both parents to be working, so children spend their days being raised by day care providers. Possibly through trying to give them everything they ask for instead of teaching them contentment. Possibly through too much television and video games. Possibly through too much “hands-off” parenting, letting children do as they desire rather than having a strong relationship with them. Perhaps it is through a lack of community and too many single parents trying to do it all on their own.

There are many ways in which our children are stolen from us, and all too often we have let it happen. But it’s never too late. We must not let our children be stolen from us. There is always hope, as long as there are people willing to care, love and fight for the sake of our children and their future.

 

Morals of The Clone Wars 3.3: Supply Lines

Moral: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

We’ve heard this adage before most likely. And most likely we agree with it. If we have the will to get something done, we’ll find a way to get it done.

Often, it’s our will that’s the problem. If we claim to follow Christ, we have claimed His Lordship over our lives. But most of us seldom fully let our lives fall under His Lordship. We still exercise our own will far too often.

Part of the church’s problem lies in following His will. We’d rather make it our will that get’s done. We can find a way to make our will happen. But with God’s will, we often don’t feel there’s a way to make it happen. We forget He empowers us to do so.

Morals of the Clone Wars 3.2: ARC Troopers

Moral: ”Fighting a war tests a soldier’s skills, defending his home tests a soldier’s heart.”

As we battle not against flesh and blood, but against the very things that fight for our souls, we are tested on a daily basis. Often we don’t realize it, but we are enticed to do that which we shouldn’t do, to not do the things we should do, to think that which is impure and even to be passive in living out our faith. When we take time to start each day with prayer and thoughtful intention about saying the course as well as taking time to reflect upon our day in the evening, we train ourselves to defend our heart against the forces that try to take it captive.

Morals of the Clone Wars 3.1: Clone Cadets

Moral: ”Brothers in arms are brothers for life.”

I don’t want to get into the whole “Onward Christian Soldiers” analogy, looking at followers of Jesus as soldiers in a war against evil. In some ways it is apt, but it also gets blown way out of proportion and used in ways that it shouldn’t.

Maybe we just need to remember that as children of God, we are brothers (and sisters). And it is for life. So, it would be prudent for us to spend more time together, working with one another instead of against each other.