Deadlier Than Kryptonite

In last weeks post "Always Look Again" (Click Here), you and I went on a trip to the local comic book store together and we made a fantastic find!

Today I would like to share with you, the best find yet! I am so glad that God's voice is so big and powerful that He can speak through a burning bush, or a comic book. He is absolutely AMAZING!!!!!

It is no secret that I am a Superman fanatic! I have an entire "Man Cave" filled floor to ceiling with Superman artifacts and in the neighborhood of 3,000 comic books which the majority would be Superman titles. I am kind of a "fan" you might say.

 

I don't follow sports and I don't hunt. I'm not opposed to any of it, but the whole comic book scene is a hobby that I really do enjoy and as I stated in the previous blog post, I have loved it since I was first introduced to it as a child.

Superman is and always has been my favorite superhero. He always did the right thing no matter what and in every situation, he looked out for the guy who could not or was not strong enough to stand up for himself.

Superman had a major weakness  though and it was called Kryptonite. When he was exposed to it, the effects of this element would weaken him tremendously and if left exposed to Kryptonite, its properties would eventually kill him.
Over the course of his history, many people used this weakness to kill Superman but he somehow always managed to find a way to foil their plans until one day, he rounded up all of the kryptonite in the world (with the exception of one piece which he entrusted to the Batman) and disposed of it.

There was a lot to this Kryptonite and the smartest thing that the man of steel did was to make efforts to avoid it.

That makes sense right?

Stop trying to resist what you should be avoiding.

There was one thing that stopped Superman that was NOT kryptonite. It was, in my humble opinion, deadlier than the largest dose of Kryptonite.

In fact, the longer I have been part of the body of Christ, the more obvious it becomes that this same situation takes place in real life. There is a large number of people that would profess to be Christians that have been hit by this weapon deadlier than Kryptonite.

What was detrimental to the effectiveness of the man of steel, is equally as destructive to the Christian of today. We can all draw parallels of flesh patterns that weaken and can even destroy a Christian, but I am speaking now of something deadlier than Kryptonite of the flesh.

Anyway, I was in the comic book store with you last week and we looked through the long boxes of comic book goodness, I found this issue and it sums up the situation that the majority of Christians struggle with to this day.

In this particular issue, Superman goes toe to toe with a villain named "The Master Jailer". The Master Jailer was fascinated by locks and traps and his specialty was creating traps that were custom fit for a person's particular strength and ability.
As the story unfolded the Jailer threw many traps at the man of steel only be disappointed by their ineffectiveness. When Superman grabs the Master Jailer, the ultimate trap is sprung.

The master Jailer hits Superman with a special ray that makes The Man of Steel believe that he is not Superman but in fact just a dock worker named Mike who is going to be late for his shift if he does not get back to work. His identity is muddied and since identity always brings purpose, Mike.. I mean Superman punches in and lives life with no purpose.

The confused Superman spends much of the story working tirelessly unloading ships at the state docks and although he still has this unbelievable strength and ability, he has no clue who he was made to be while the Master Jailer is on the crime spree of his life. The Jailer could care less if Superman was exhibiting his strengths and abilities, just as long as he remained in the dark as to his true identity.

Are you drawing the parallel yet?

Satan is the master jailer and his deadlier than Kryptonite attack on believers is to somehow convince them that they are NOT who God says that they ARE.

I speak to people all the time and as I speak to Christians, what I see more than any other thing is a lack of understanding on Spiritual Identity. Their righteousness is a behavior modification campaign and holiness is something that believe that you achieve to have. They spend hours upon hours engaged in labor trying to just do their best. They exhibit the fruits of the Spirit but are never quite free in Christ enough to live it out because they are trapped in a performance based acceptance mindset. If I do this I will be Holy, if I do that I will not be Holy anymore.

They have been confused. The master jailer has used good things to convince them that they are NOT who God made them. The truth of the matter is, God made them Holy through His son Jesus Christ. Any attempt on my part, through my own strength to achieve "holiness" is in fact self-righteousness. It was righteousness generated by my own intentioanl actions or labor.

God created you new at Salvation and placed a new heart within you. The flesh (Operating out of your own resources) will be something you struggle against and always will with this earth suit, but you have been changed at your core! His Spirit now resides within you.

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."  ~ Romans 12:2


The world needs Christians to just honestly wake up to who they are IN Christ. You take the power from another place and put it to work here!

The church at Ephesus had left her first love. They were known for having impecable doctrine and for being "busy" with activities. The busyness was a distraction from the reality that they had lost their identity to a calander of events. They lost thier identity of who they were to and in Christ, to well intentioned programs and events.
 I was told along time ago when looking at a swollen carcass of a dead racoon alongside the highway, "Never confuse swelling with growth".

"In this kingdom, you really do get what you seek after."

 If you seek after a passionate, dynamic, and genuine love relationship with Jesus Christ, you will find it! It works in opposite as well.

If you look around where you are and see what you have, it is proof of what you have truly been seeking after.

Christ came to make you free indeed!

Take a good look at who you are IN, THROUGH, and BECAUSE of Him and you will leave the "Religious activity" timecard at the spot where you take back to the skies!


Climbing with you,
~Dan