It was just a quippy puzzle in a newspaper, but a voice, familiar and non-judgmental, challenged me to take a closer look at my solved riddle. It read something like this: ‘What do you call people with great power who are too lazy to do anything with it?’ The answer: ‘Superzeroes.’ On first read, I thought: Very clever! After the Voice’s urging, I felt prompted to think: Ouch! Perhaps not surprisingly, then, this relatively brief episode continues to hold haunting sway over the fullness of my days like a brain burr constantly speaking to me of its presence. One pondering is that I wouldn’t want that said of me. Would you? Of course, the most pertinent question arising here is: Am I someone with great power who is too lazy to do anything with it? The idea of my having great power is, at first glance, laughable, but on reflection, there are highly authoritative, Biblical passages which hold forth to wipe that grin right off my face. For example, Jesus, himself, told his disciples that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them (and we know that that happened at Pentecost, in just ten short days – cf. Acts 1:8. And we follow the disciples in the receiving of it, these two millennia later). When Peter and John were heading in to a prayer meeting, they were arrested by the plight of a beggar. They offered him what they had – check out that cool story in Acts 3: 1-10. The Apostle Paul prays for the church in Rome – ‘Now may God, the inspiration and fountain of hope, fill you to overflowing with uncontainable joy and perfect peace as you trust in him. And may the power of the Holy Spirit continually surround your life with his super-abundance until you radiate with hope!’ Romans 15:13. Paul will be overwhelmingly convinced that this invincible power was for all Jesus’ disciples down through the ages (that’s us. y’all)- cf. Romans 8:37-39. Further, in Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, he encourages with this: “Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.” Taken from Ephesians 3:14-21. So, how would we describe this mighty, miraculous power we’ve inherited? Does this power make us people who have great power? If so, are we the lazy types or the active types? Are we the superheroes of our family, our community, our nation, our world. or . . . ? (just askin.’) PD
Not the bench press type
