Mar. 6: What's Your Kryptonite?

My friend Jim is a big guy, about 6-foot-5, around 280 pounds—a man’s man, a real-life Superman—at least his wife thinks so. She gives him cool gifts with the Superman logo emblazoned upon them to remind him that he’s her hero, her Superman.

You remember Superman—the man of steel, faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound—that’s the guy. Even Superman had a weakness—kryptonite. This glowing rock from his former home planet was the only thing that could bring the Man of Steel to his knees, as weak as a baby.

What’s your kryptonite? Everybody I know has at least one area of weakness that dogs them for a lifetime, unless they find a way to master it and break its hold on their life. The Bible calls this a “besetting sin”, these parasitic sins that so easily entangle us and trip us up (see Hebrews 12:1). Sometimes the Enemy gets a particular stronghold in one area of our lives—maybe it’s alcoholism or substance abuse, self-loathing or lust—the possibilities are endless. They cripple us, stunt our growth, and kill our dreams. How does God respond to these weaknesses and our failures?

He knows our weaknesses and He knows what it is to be tempted, tested and pushed to the limit. “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear…Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:14, 16)

He not only knows our weakness and identifies with our suffering, but He empowers us and sets us free! “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom; and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.” (1 Corinthians 1:25) We sang the song as children, “Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so; little ones to Him belong, they are weak, but He is strong.”

He not only sets us free, but turns our greatest weakness into our greatest strength. The Apostle wrote, “But the Lord said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) God can take our deepest wound, our greatest weakness, heal it, and then use it to encourage and heal others who are fighting the same battle.

So I ask you again, what’s your kryptonite? Jesus understands your struggle. Jesus can set you free. Jesus can use your wound, and its healing, to be a source of healing in other people’s lives. Rick Warren says, “God never wastes an experience.” Don’t hide your weakness or wound from God in fear or shame. Trust Him with it, He can set you free.

~ Father, thank you for clothing yourself in human flesh and walking in our shoes. Help me not to hide from You in fear or shame, but to trust You to set me free from the strongholds in my life. Amen.