Superpowers!

I saw Captain America last weekend. I loved the story... Steve Rogers is just this skinny, little guy with no physical strength or intimidation, but a lion heart of incredible power because he longs for justice for the oppressed. When he is transformed, he has this great scene in which he runs faster and further than he ever has before, jumps higher and punches harder than he ever could before. His heart is the same - he still longs for justice and fights for good to triumph - but now he is infused with this incredible power that gives action to passion. He's able to fight and defeat evil, rescue the prisoners, and fulfill the things that were in his heart.

In training, we talked one day about spiritual gifts, particularly the motivational gifts discussed in Romans 12. These are gifts that God gives us at birth, and we realized they are our superpowers. The thing is, we don't usually know the power we have right away. We have these hearts that long for things, long for different forms of greatness and power. When we give our lives to Jesus, He starts to direct those longings in ways that fall in line with his own desires. And as we walk with him, He begins to show us the powers He put in us, now hyper-injected with his Spirit. When we trust him, He gives us opportunities to try out our powers, flex our wings, stretch our muscles, and see just how fast we can run without growing weary, how far we can walk without growing faint.

We may say, "I'm only a teacher," or "All I do is serve behind the scenes," but when we have the Holy Spirit, we are so much more. We truly have superpowers that give action to the passion in our hearts. We are well-equipped to fight evil and bring victory and hope... and what greater superpower is there than that?

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Illustration by Andrew Chandler