Superman? What's Your Kryptonite

Mild mannered reporter Clark Kent isn't really who he appears to be! When no one is looking he changes clothes in a telephone booth and assumes super powers, He becomes Superman!  This man of steel is from the planet Krypton, and being so, his only vulnerability is exposure to that rare element. Otherwise Superman is not only invincible, but invulnerable!

We too can be Supermen!  Given the right response we can take on the following powers:

• We can be immortal!
• We'll have perpetually perfect health.
• Nothing can injure us.
• We can foil all enemies.
• Peace can be ours.
• World defeated by love!
• Joy will be ours.
• Hope for a better world will be.
• We'll not be subject to physical laws.
• We can suddenly appear from elsewhere. 
• We'll have super strength!
• Walls of stone will never contain us.
• We'll be members of a powerful army.

How can this be assuming that after our resurrection we'll have many of the same characteristics of Christ because we will be Christlike: Matthew 22:30 "For in the resurrection they... are as the angels of God in heaven."

• Immortality: Matthew 25:46 "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."
• Healthiness and Injury: Revelation 21:4 "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."
• Over Power enemies: Ephesians 6:10 "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."
• Peace: John 16:33 "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."
• Love is supreme: 1 Corinthians 13:4 "Charity (love) suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 (Love)  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."
• Power of Joy and Hope: Romans 15:13 "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."
• Defying gravity: Thessalonians 4:17 "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air..."
• Suddenly Appear: Mark 16:14 "Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat..." (Christ seemed to have the ability to defy time and space. He's not there, then suddenly he is!)
• Super strength: Matthew 28:2b "...for the angel of the Lord (Jesus) descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it." (The Angel of the Lord is a common tern for "The Word", Jesus. Jesus rolled back his own stone with the strength of an earthquake)
• Penetrates Stone Walls: Matthew 28:6 "He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." (It doesn't seem that Jesus left the tomb through the door, but just walked or rose through stone walls as if they weren't there!)
• Power in War: Ephesians 6:12 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

Truly we'll be Supermen! There's power in Jesus. We're not to seek power, but we get it as part of the "born-again" experience. If we seek salvation for power we'll fail as did Simon the Sorcerer, but if we seek Christ as a meek servant, we will be empowered!  We will be Supermen in a spiritual sense and even our bodies will become perfect, having all the characteristics as Jesus because we were formed in the image of Jesus!  Once we're saved we're on our way to a Super Life! However, just as Superman had Super Enemies, Christians have the same. Satan is to the Christian as Lex Luthar is to Superman. Satan is the Super Villain and uses dirty tricks to defeat the babe in Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:1 "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ."

Superman had powers even as an infant when he made his appearance on earth. However, as he matured he learned how to control those powers. He had self-control. He used those powers for good! However, Lex Luthar continually sought to undermine Superman. He finally realized that the material of the very world from which Superman came was what could defeat him. Kryptonite would weaken Superman and when weakened, he would expose himself to destruction!  Christians all have their own Kryptonite. Just as Superman, our own world is our Kryptonite!  The world offers pleasure. The radiance of the world is "pleasure" and it's that pleasure that's our Kryptonite!  Any and all sin comes down to seeking pleasures of the world over righteousness.

Those pleasures range from lust to power and everything in between. The ingredients of pleasure are poison to the soul. They all are sin! Yes, sin is our Kryptonite and Satan our Lex Luthar who brings forth that beautiful substance as something to be cherished, but after we get too near, it's deadly power overcomes us! The secret to a successful Christian life is the same as what Superman would do:

James 4:7 "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

 Superman's power was derived from a change of world's. He was ordinary on Krypton, but was super when he came to this world. The same is for you. You're just a normal weak sinner before you enter the Kingdom of God, but once you become a righteous citizen of that world you become a New Person. You assume power because of the power of God. You're no longer alone in war with nefarious powers, but are empowered by God just as David's meek slingshot became a super weapon! To preserve our super power we flee from our Kryptonite!  We don't get near what will weaken us! Gradually just like Kryptonite, we are destroyed by elements of our own world!

Yes, we are to be Supermen! However, instead of an "S" we're to wear an "R". We're to wear a breastplate of "righteousness"!  When we become that New Person, we do have super powers, but we should be meek just like Superman's altar ego, Clark Kent. The meek shall inherit the earth! (Matthew 5:5).

Please note that we don't change in a telephone booth. The change we make is in our hearts and we clean that uniform in the baptism of water. That weak old person is buried there, the costume cleansed and the New Person arises from the water. Superman you become! The crusade of Superman is to save others from destruction. Be a Super Hero! Be a super witness to the world that all may be supermen!