Pardon Me, Are you Superman?

"Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound --- 'Look, up in the sky,' 'It's a bird,' 'It's a plane,' 'It's Superman....' "

The very quote reminds me of my childhood. I can remember running around the house with a bath towel or blanket tied around my neck. Any cape would do. I can remember dreaming of how it would feel to fly in, rescue the people, and then soar away the hero.

I laugh now as I watch my two sons imitate their favorite cartoon super-heroes. Their heroes are different than those from my childhood, but the capes remain the same. The goal of defeating the evil villain and flying away the hero thrives in their imagination just as it did mine.

It is the childhood memories such as these that give me a chuckle as I read the first several verses of First Corinthians chapter three:

“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not mere men?” (1 Cor. 3:1-4 NASB - Bold and Italics added)

I can almost hear the deep baritone voice-over of the cartoon announcer as I read this passage. “Are you not Mere men” – mere mortals?

The comparison is not as far fetched as one might imagine. Paul was writing to a church that seemed to always be in trouble. Like a father with children who just wouldn’t get along when dad wasn’t watching, Paul seemed to always be reprimanding and correcting his spiritual children in Corinth.

In this particular passage, Paul is correcting a petty dispute over “Who’s the better preacher.” Almost sounding annoyed, Paul speaks up and throws out the sobering comment, “you are acting like infants.” You could be spiritual giants. Instead you act like mere men.

Superman wasn’t Superman all of the time. He lived a secret life as Clark Kent, a mild mannered reporter. He would live his life in quiet obscurity. Only when danger arose was it time for his alter ego, Superman, to come to the rescue. Clark would rush into a phone booth or closet, and, in only a moment, emerge the Man of Steel. In one moment a mere mortal, the next SUPERMAN!

I have found from my experience, a similarity in my prayer closet. When danger arises I run into my prayer closet, and pray for God to avert the crisis at hand. Many times, though, I have emerged only to find the crisis still in place. I would quickly close the door again and continue to pray, but the danger just wouldn’t leave. Finally, I would leave the closet wondering why God wasn’t answering. My eyes were focused on the wrong thing, and I had missed the transformation.

You see, Clark Kent wouldn’t run into the closet to change the crisis, he ran to the closet to change himself. As Clark Kent he was known as a mere mortal. When he emerged though, he was invincible. So it is many times when we exit our prayer closets. It wasn’t that God hadn’t answered our prayers. He hadn’t changed the situation, he changed us. We had leapt into our prayer closets mere mortals, afraid of the dangers we faced, but left protected, with the promise “no weapon formed against us would prosper.” The sad thing? We didn’t even realize it!

I remember the cartoons where bullets would bounce from Superman’s chest, and knives would shrivel instead of piercing his skin. A striking similarity to the flaming darts our enemy launches against us, and the knives he tries to stab in our backs.

It is important to know why God has given us the power of prayer. YES, prayer can move mountains. YES, prayer can change things for our favor. More importantly though, prayer can change us so that the knives of gossip and whispering, the daggers of mortal men around us do not pierce us to our heart.

Recently God reminded me of a painful emotional wound I received. The knife had been plunged deeply into my heart, and a seed of bitterness was left in its place. God has since healed me of the injury, and helped dig the bitterness from my heart. However, from this passage the realization struck me that the wound would never have been as deep, if I hadn’t been a mere mortal at the time.

The enemy tries to convince us that we are like Clark Kent. He tries to convince us that we are still supermen, even when we haven’t jumped into our prayer closets. However, unlike our cartoon equivalent, our power isn’t our own. Clark Kent could do everything that Superman did, phone booth or not. We however, need that intimate time in God’s presence and in His Word to transform us into our spiritual selves. We ARE but mere men when we haven’t spent time in our spiritual phone booths.

You never know when the next trial is looming. I have never received a telegram to inform me trouble was on the way. It is important that we have daily been transformed in our spiritual phone booths and are ready for what lies ahead. Like Superman stripping away the clothing that is Clark Kent, we must strip away our fleshly man, so we can stand in the supernatural power of the Spirit of God.

In every cartoon, it seems a phone booth was always available. Even more so, it is with God. There is never any waiting to step into His presence.

Before I end this newsletter I want to encourage you. If you have been wounded like I was, I want you to know that God is not upset with you. He knew we were going to stumble and knew we were going to fall. It is for that reason that Isaiah prophesied, “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

He has already paid for our peace. He has already paid for our emotional healing. If you have fought with emotional wounding or spiritual hurts, Jesus has already paid for the healing of your mind and heart. Simply stretch out your faith, and grab hold of His hand. He can heal you right where you are. I agree in prayer with you that God will heal your emotions even now, just as He has healed mine. I stand on His word that by His stripes, you are healed.

Now, for those who have been healed, and for everyone else, I encourage Spiritual Supermen (and women) to step from their phone booths, and change the world around them. Tackle the villains. Rescue the oppressed. Just be sure to point out the true hero when you fly away victorious.

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