De-Cape

“Take off your cape and let down your mask. Your greatest powers lie within you...weakness and all.”
Loren Thornburg

Superman and Superwoman are comic superheroes as well as terms used to imply having exceptional strength or ability. Although we don’t run around in capes we often expect ourselves to have many qualities of a superhero. It is our nature to want to emulate this figure who always saves the day and is essentially perfect. We do what we can to save the day, to have it all together, to be “exceptional” in all that we undertake. The problem is that we are not fictional characters, we are human. We all have different gifts and talents, but we also all have weaknesses and limits. As opportunities to do more increase so do the standards. Often the highest standards are those we put on ourselves, expecting us to be something we were never designed to be. So the key is not to be superman or superwoman but to be super ”You.” To be an exceptional You, in all of Your strengths, admitting your weakness and accepting your limits. That is where the real power lies. So take off your cape and start living free.

“The Lord is like a father to his children; tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he understands how weak we are; he knows we are only dust.”
Psalm 103:13-14 NLT

God made us. He knows better than we do how weak we are. So I wonder why we expect ourselves to be more than human. Now it is true that we are called to be like Christ, that we are made in His image, that we have the power of the Holy Spirit in us. It is true that God loves it when we do exceptional things that glorify Him. Yet it is also true that He loves us when we don’t. It is also true that He understands our shortcomings and even there He is a father to us with compassion. He is not asking for us to be superman, superwoman, or even super Christians. He is asking that we sit at His feet as children loved by the Father. For there we will fall in love with Him and there we will find freedom to take off our capes and be all that He intended us to be, weaknesses and all.