“What’s your super power?” That question has been floating around social media for quite some time now and is often heard being asked, mostly, among the millennial generation. With the increase of super-hero movies, television shows, comic sales and action figures, we spend incredible amounts of money on this genre—telling Hollywood, give us more. Despite Tina Turner’s 1985 hit song, We Don’t Need Another Hero, fantasy heroes have grown in popularity and are here to stay. Hmm, why is that?
People long for someone to save their embattled mind, to pull them out of the ash-heap of their self-inflicted wounds and troubles.Many may deny the one true God, but they are still looking for a “god” to save them. Subconsciously, some may even be looking for a super-hero that will save them from God Himself. Super-heroes, in part, provide a reprieve from reality, giving us a false sense of security that everything is going to be okay.
Men, rejecting the God of the Bible, attempt to create God in their own image. We look at the “shiny armored” comic book heroes of yesteryear and see that today they have grown much darker. If it is okay for our heroes to act in an unrighteous manner, surely we can do likewise. If we recreate God in our own image—not concerned with holiness or being just—we need not live up to a righteous or holy standard of living either. When our heroes don’t live by a standard of absolute truth, why must we?
In comic book or cinema lore, man’s greatest enemies are portrayed as “a giant interstellar starfish” or meteor hurtling toward earth from outer space, genetically mutated monsters or super villains, and at times, some natural disaster. However, in real life the monsters we need saving from are monsters like addiction to pornography, alcohol, drugs, sex, and the list goes on. In truth, man’s greatest enemy is Satan and the original sin which lies in the heart of each of us—drawing us away from holiness and into further sin.
Justice League’s Batman, played by Ben Affleck, who has been fighting his own monsters of alcohol abuse, marital turmoil (pending divorce), and an accusation of sexual impropriety—in the wake of Hollywood’s sexual harassment scandal—ponders the need of a real “super-hero.”
As USA Today quotes Affleck, “There’s a lot of stuff going on in the world, from natural to man-made disasters, and it’s really scary. Part of the appeal of this genre is wish fulfillment: Wouldn’t it be nice if there was somebody who can save us from all this, save us from ourselves, save us from the consequences of our actions and save us from people who are evil?”
Even “Batman” is powerless over the chains of sin. No Justice League “super-hero” can beat the devil or the sin which resides within each of us fallen creatures. Within each “super-hero” and within each of us is the monster of sin that rages to be unleashed.
In the midst of such personal woe; in the midst of such chaos and crime; in the midst of such spiritual wanderlust; there IS one—and ONLY One—who can save us from the monster of Satan, sin, and self. There is only One who can see us through every disaster and evil—either protecting us from or taking us through to eternal glory. There is only One who can save us from the eternal consequences of our actions. That One is the only real god-man, the only Savior of mankind. He is the Man Jesus Christ—the promised Messiah.
Ben Affleck straightforwardly echoes the cry of every man, woman, and child, in search of a “super-hero.” Little do they realize that their cry can only be answered by the gospel of Jesus Christ. He alone has come to destroy the works of the devil, to save His people from their sin, and to make men free.
Our purpose is holy living and sharing the truth of this wonderful Savior—telling of His atoning work on the cross. Our lives are to be a witness to this saving grace and to make it known to others. Take every opportunity to speak of mankind’s only Savior. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone would answer: Yes Mr. Affleck, it would be “nice if there was somebody who can save us from all this, save us from ourselves, save us from the consequences of our actions and save us from people who are evil”—and there is. His name is Jesus.
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