Not too long ago, my son Arden travelled to India to speak at a conference. But when he arrived, they didn’t even pick him up at the airport. He texted me, saying, “Dad, what do I do?”
As a father, I was furious. I wanted to fly over there and confront them. My son flew halfway around the world and nobody even picked him up! I started to reply to him, but I had somehow messed up my iPhone’s operating system. I would write a sentence and my phone would shut down. It took me 15 minutes to get one word to stick and two hours to get one sentence to him. I was so frustrated, but in the middle of the drama I heard the Holy Spirit say something to me.
A hundred years ago I would have been jumping up and down if I could get my son one sentence in India in a split second like that. So what was the problem? It was that I knew my potential. This is what the Spirit was saying to me: when we don’t reach our potential, it destroys us.
The answer to this problem requires asking why we do not reach our spiritual potential. Let’s be honest. As spiritual beings, we know when the power of God is flowing through us and when we are just going through the motions. So what it is that slows us down and weakens us?
I compare it to Superman’s kryptonite – that substance that saps our strength and causes us to be less than we were created to be. At its core, our kryptonite is idolatry. By that, I don’t mean statues or figurines, I mean the tendency to push back from what God says is good, right, and best for our lives in order to pursue what we think is best.
Idolatry says, “I know what is good, best, and right for my life.” Obedience says, “I choose what God says is good, best, and right for my life.” When we choose what we think is best, it’s kryptonite. It weakens us. We have the form, but we have lost the power.
The good news is that God has already given us everything we need by His grace. We know that grace forgives us. We know that grace saves us. We know that grace is a free gift. But do you realize that grace empowers us to do what we can’t do in our own ability? It doesn’t make us Superman; it makes us supernatural men and women.
God said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV, emphasis added). God defines His grace as His power. Peter said, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness…” (2 Peter 1:2-3, BSB).
God’s grace enables us to live supernaturally, full of power and effective for His kingdom. But it requires us to choose what He says is best for us and act on it. It requires obedience. When we obey, the kryptonite of idolatry has no power over us and we can do things beyond our natural ability. Then we will find personal fulfillment as we reach our full potential in Christ, being who He created us to be.
John Bevere talks more about his new book Killing Kryptonite: Destroy What Steals Your Strength this Tuesday on LIFE Today.
