November 08, 2021
We are absolutely intrigued by the thought of a human with superhuman powers. Endless stories—from ancient mythology to current movies—promote these ideas. There is a reason for this. We were created by God to be superhuman. To have power beyond the average human.
We were made for more and something in us longs for more. Fictional stories often touch this idea but leave out the reality of how it is possible. (C.S. Lewis called this the difference between a myth and the true myth.)
THE BIRTH OF A SUPERMAN
All of humanity can be lumped in one of two categories: either we are in the flesh (mere men with our humanity alone) or in the Spirit (men who have been joined to Christ and now have the life of God in them). Either we have been born only once or we have experienced a second birth in which our sins are forgiven, and the Spirit of God has come to indwell us.
Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. (Romans 7:4)
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. (Romans 8:9-10)
Only the second category can "bear fruit for God" for, as Jesus said, "I am the Vine, you are the branch; abide in Me as I abide in you, for apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:4)
Notice that Paul says (speaking to believers) that we "were in the flesh...but now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound..." (past tense). We "were"... we "have been released." This is the reality about the believer, whether they realize it fully or not.
NEW POWER
When the Spirit of God comes to live in us, we have a new power, a new engine that we never had before. A plane that has no engine is bound to the law of gravity and cannot get off the ground. But if it's "joined to another," (an engine inside), it is released from the law of gravity that has bound it to the earth. It can now soar and fulfill its designer's purpose.
If you have Christ in you, you do not have to live like you lived when you were separated from Him. The Spirit is in you! You are bound to Him! You are superhuman! You can now fly with a power you never had before.
Father, we are overwhelmed that you would love us and save us from our sins. But that you went beyond mere forgiveness to placing Your Spirit in us to give us Divine power and life is astounding. Give us grace today to not follow the lusts and impulses of our mere humanity, but to humbly turn to You in dependence and let Your Divine life flow through us like “rivers of living water” so the world can see what a human was created to be. May our superhuman lives glorify the One who made this transformation possible!
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