If You Could Have A Superpower, What Would You Choose?

If you could have a superpower, what would you choose? I think about this sometimes, and it's a toss-up between flight and super strength. I wonder how I would find out about my ability, if it would be an instant surprise, a gradual discovery, or if it would be the most natural thing in the world. It's the classic superhero dilemma, to struggle with the discovery of your power. One day, you are an ordinary guy; but then your abilities begin to develop and you start to realize that there's more to you than what you once thought. The questions in your mind become different from the usual. Am I really "super"? Why do I have this ability? What am I to do with this newfangled discovery? And what am I to wear? It's the stuff of television shows.

The reason I talk about super-ability is because of Easter, which we celebrate all the way until Pentecost Sunday. When Jesus rose from the dead, it was the power of God at work, liberating us from hell, destruction, sin and death. And that power is what Paul calls "the immeasurable greatness of (God's) power for us who believe" (Eph 1:19). Immeasurable power. God is awesome.

I'll level with everyone here. Sometimes, when I think of the Christian sort of spiritual power, I wonder if it is all it is made out to be, if being holy is as cool as having a superpower. Take, for example, flight and pit it against the virtue of piety. What's cooler? Off the bat, it's definitely flight. Telekinesis wins, too. And so does super strength. I draw out one virtue after another, and on a worldly scale, they lose to the best of any superpower. We humans might even take non-superpowers such as intelligence and physical ability over virtue, most times.

But that's the thing. It's on a worldly, earthly and ultimately finite scale.

The significance of Easter is that we can be all God has created us to be now and in eternity. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is available to us. Of course we live in a broken reality, where we aren't perfect yet. But think of it as a superhero awakening to his ability slowly. You're honing the power, letting yourself be an agent of its innate goodness. You're learning how to wield it. You're discovering its significance. And one day, it's all gonna come together; and clad in spandex, you will be a full-fledged superhero.

In this world we're discovering who we are in Christ. "We see indistinctly as in a mirror" (1 Cor 13:12); but eventually it will all be clear. And those who lived lives of holiness will understand what it was all for in the light of eternity, which is far longer and more exciting than what this world has to offer.

God is awesome. Happy Easter everyone.

"I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead." Ephesians 1:17-20