Be in the Light

I’m very excited to see the new Superman movie coming out this June. I'm a Superman fan.

Not trying to be a commercial or anything for the movie, after all, who knows, maybe it’ll be awful. I didn’t particularly like the last Superman movies that came out, no offense to Henry Cavill, because they were just too dark. Of course, I grew up with "Lois and Clark: The Adventures of Superman" and "Smallville", so maybe I’ve been ruined by the boy-next-door, good-hearted type of Superman. (Well, if the boy-next-door could bench press our van.)

Anyway,... watching so many variations of Superman, I learned that Superman is not as invincible as often perceived. There are two sure-fire ways to defeat him.

Everyone knows about kryptonite. Kryptonite is Superman’s, well, kryptonite. The remnants of his home planet are what defeat him and make him weak. In large doses, they can even kill him. But there is another, lesser-known thing that can also kill him. Superman gets his superhuman strength from the earth's sun. Which means, if you hide him from the sun's light for enough time, the strength drains out of his body, and he becomes just as vulnerable as any other regular joe. It is possible to kill him in those moments.

Say Superman had never been exposed to the sun. Say he had lived in the dark from the moment he arrived on earth. Then he never would have known there was more that he could do. He never would have known he had superhuman powers. He would have lived forever in the darkness, not even seeking the light, because he wouldn't have had any way of knowing the benefit the sun could give him. I think he still would have been a good person - a great one, perhaps. Helping wherever he could, no doubt. But, that's it. He never would have been anything more.

I feel like there’s a lesson we could learn here. A lot of times, people say you don’t need Jesus to be a good person. You don’t need Jesus to live a good life. People even resent the fact that Christians suggest they might need a savior. 

However, people without Jesus are like Superman without the sun. Just human beings, maybe with a good heart, trying to do good things, but only in their own strength. Without the sun, they live in darkness, with no way to find the light. They've never lived in the light, so they don't know. They don't know there's more to life.

Jesus says in John 12:46, "I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness."

Once exposed to the Son, people are energized. They are able to do superhuman things like forgiving those who have harmed them and healing people and speaking in tongues and prophesying about the future. They're able to connect to their Creator and to experience little tastes of Heaven.

I'm remembering an old song from DC Talk, which said, "I want to be in the light, as You are in the light. I want to shine like the stars in the heavens. Oh Lord, be my light, be my salvation. All I want is to be in the light."

Why settle for the darkness when you could live in the sun? When you could live with the Son?

Yeah, you can make an okay life for yourself being a good person and doing good things, but you’ll never have full life by yourself.

Now, skeptics out there might say, well, the Christians I know aren’t very sunshiney! I think this is because a large part of the church has settled for a picture of the Son, rather than the Son Himself. They've put up on the ceiling of their dark room. They don’t actually know Jesus. They don’t actually have the power of the Holy Spirit. They just kinda know about Him. They say they’re serving him, but since they don't truly know Him, they are merely following cultural rules and expectations, with lots of leeway for getting it wrong. Cause next to the picture of Jesus on the wall are pictures of the other things they also serve: perhaps an American flag, a certain president, themselves, their addiction, their bank account statement, their whiteness, or their privilege. A picture of the Son is just one among many. It doesn't give any light. It gives them no true strength. It’s just a vague, empty belief with no action behind it.

It’s interesting that Jesus says in the last days, some of the condemned will say, but Jesus, I did all these things for you, and He will say, "I never knew you." Doesn't that make you shiver a little? He's talking to believers. He's saying some who call themselves "Christian" don't actually know Him. They think they are saved, but they are not, and unless they wake up and leave the darkness for the light - they will be quite surprised come judgment day.

Do you really know Jesus? Have you experienced the Holy Spirit in your life?

Don’t settle for less. God wants the most for you. And yes, it costs everything, but the reward is even greater.

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