Scripture: Genesis 3:1-6 (NIV)

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

As Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi speed into Mos Eisley, the droids on the back of the landspeeder, they are stopped by an Imperial stormtrooper checkpoint, looking for exactly those droids. While Luke played it cool while trying to figure a way out of this, Obi-Wan pulled another tool out of his toolbox. Slightly waving his hand, he told the troopers that they didn’t need to see Luke’s identification, that these weren’t the droids they were looking for, Luke could go about his business, and everyone should just move along. The trooper repeated the instructions and sent them on their way.

When they got outside the cantina, Luke was incredulous that they got past the stormtroopers. Obi-Wan then gave him one of his first Jedi lessons: “The Force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded.” The rank and file of the Empire weren’t exactly known for independent thought. Obi-Wan was able to strongly suggest actions that they would agree with by touching their minds.

The modern world likes to say religion is for the weak-minded. They think that since especially Christians believe in something that can’t be seen that they’ll fall for anything. While we have seen some individual Christians be willing to follow questionable leaders or practices without blinking, for the most part it’s the other way around. Sin has more of an influence on the weak-minded than God does.

Sin is easy. Sin doesn’t require you to think nor does it want you to do so. Sin wants you to just do it. If you start thinking about your situation, you may realize that it is not healthy, not spiritual, not at all what you are supposed to be doing. As the demon in C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters said, “It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.”

We see this every day but it goes back to the very first days. In the Garden of Eden everything was provided but there was one tree they weren’t supposed to touch. The serpent didn’t tell Eve to really think about what was going on there. He didn’t ask her to rigorously examine what she was told. No, he told her what would benefit her now and, by not standing up for what she was told by God, started humanity down the sinful path.

Saying you are a Christian in this world is hard enough but truly understanding the faith, being able to stand and defend it, isn’t the realm of the weak-minded at all. It takes study, it takes discussion with others, it takes a lot more than just reflexively doing anything a religious leader says. Strengthen your mind and keep sin at bay!