Woe unto you, Imaginary Superheroes!

The most powerful reality that one can dwell in is the spiritual reality, or the reality of the Kingdom of God. There are realities in this world which we can see, taste, smell and also hear. Like for example, breaking the sound barrier, you can hear and also see the phenomenon take place when a jet plane does that. You do not see that barrier itself as you go about your daily life, but yet, when you observe the plane and it goes beyond a certain speed threshold, then you are in awareness of it.

There are realities also of the spirit, which until we are gifted for, cannot see, taste, smell and hear. Jesus speaks about those realities quite a bit in his ministry and when questioned about why He speaks in parables, He calls them the 'Knowledge of the Secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven' and he follows up with this mind blowing statement from Matthew 13:16 in which He says "For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it". I truly believe Jesus is talking about the perception of that spiritual world, and not metaphorically, He meant it literally.

Further, we know about the miraculous things He did which makes no logical sense whatsoever, like walk on water, turn water into wine, not to forget the many healings and deliverances and finally, raising people from death. To add to that, he curses a Fig tree and it withers immediately. And that is not all, when asked by his disciples about how the tree withered so quickly, in Matthew 21:21 He replies "Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what is done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea' and it will be done".

You may be thinking this is metaphorical, like, a mountain is symbolic to a problem or an obstacle in your life. But stop and think for a second, Jesus was asked by His disciples in amazement for the reason his curse had an immediate physical effect, then He goes on to say you can throw 'that' mountain into the sea. Not only that, he also clearly draws a parallel with what he did with fig tree and what we can do with the mountain. Imagine lifting a mountain and throwing it into the sea, he said we can do exactly that. I am ashamed to admit, as I think of this, I am reminded of an avengers movie!

It is not only out of reverence that I am ashamed, but out of not being able to operate at that level of faith and only believing that it happens in superhero movies. In all ways, Jesus is a superhero. He performed so many miracles and wonders, had incredible power and guess what, he saved us all. What else is a super hero expected to do! This got me thinking, if we really did have a superhero alive right now, would we behave the way the civilians do in the movies, all fascinated and excited, having posters and figurines of them, wanting autographs and pictures with them, passionately sharing the stories about the times where they defeated their enemies or saved someone and imitating their famous phrases like "I am Iron Man" or "Hulk Smash".

The best part is, he is alive my friends, through the power of the Holy Spirit. The most basic understanding is that we must address the Spirit as 'Him'. That means that he is a person, living with us, guiding us, protecting us and leading us closer to God. It is not a concept or a phenomenon, He is real, alive and with each and every believer who accepted Jesus in their lives as Lord and Savior. It is also confirmed in Acts 2:38 that “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit". So what is stopping us to be the same way with Him as the general populous are with imaginary superheroes?

If this is not enough, He goes on to say in John 14:12 that "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father". What is greater than lifting a mountain up or raising someone from the dead? Quite frankly, I cannot fathom that, what about you? Although there is one thing which is clear from this, Jesus is not only our superhero, but he expects us to be superheroes too. Isn't that awesome? Any day of the week, I would rather be a superhero than just support an idea or a concept of one!

Coming to the aspect of learning from fictional superheroes, theres nothing that you learn from them that cannot be learnt from the Bible. In Spider-Man, his uncle Ben says before he dies, that "With great power comes great responsibility" and I totally agree with that and live by it to this day. To my surprise, in Luke 12:48 Jesus similarly says "..From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked". But much more are we interested in the impartation of learning from movies, rather than the pristine knowledge and wisdom which is already imparted by a real superhero thousands of years ago.

Under this lies a deep need for people who are willing to become real superheroes by becoming His apprentice, learning and walking in His ways and going out into the field to save as many souls as possible from being lost. This is the call to all humanity, to come back to their roots and to serve and worship the one true God and his son, so that we may live an abundant and prosperous life, to help and serve the Kingdom of God in all our capacity. All of this will be done as we fascinate ourselves with the works of the Holy Spirit, what ever He can and is able to do throughout our lives. It is time to be real superheroes!

God Bless you!