Knowing Your Kryptonite

If you were a young boy growing up in the 60’s, there is a very strong possibility that you were a comic book fan…at one point in my young life I must have read them all; from Richie-Rich, to Hot-Stuff and Archie. But my favorites were always the super heroes. It didn’t matter to me if I was reading a DC comic or Marvel I read and enjoyed them all. I can admit that I was drawn more-so to the Marvel comic book heroes, but there is one DC super hero who always overshadowed them all;. “Superman”

Everyday the entire country watched the television version of our favorite super hero. I remember how my brother and I would stand in front of our little black and white screen when the show came on. We’d follow along with the announcer reciting the show’s theme:

“Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive,

Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Look, up in the sky, is a bird, it’s a plane, no;

It’s Superman!”

This guy was so awesome that bullets bounced off of his chest, he could bend steel with his bare hands; he was so fast that he could even fly around the earth in outer-space at speeds that could turn back time all over the world. He could take on a hundred villains at one-time and defeat them all. “AMAZING!”

But even with all those super powers there was one thing that he had to avoid at all cost; Kryptonite.

There were five types of Kryptonite, however only three of them were detrimental to Superman. He knew the various effects that each would have on him if he were anywhere near them:

·         Green Kryptonite – Caused him to be weak and could be fatal

·         Red Kryptonite – its effects were only temporary but very unpredictable

·         Gold Kryptonite – Would permanently rob him of his super powers

 We all understand that Superman is merely a comic book/cartoon character who was created to entertain our imagination, but isn’t it fascinating how art has the ability to imitate life?

In his epistle to the churches in Galatia one of Paul’s themes was “A Defense of the (Christian) Doctrine”

So he takes pen in hand and writes: “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:16-21

When God created mankind he gave us dominion over every other creature on the face of the earth, (ref. Genesis 1:28). In like manner, before Christ was crucified he assured his disciples that he would give them power over all the power of the enemy… (ref. Luke10:19).

Yet with all of the power and authority that we’ve been given by God, we still struggle in the area of “fulfilling the lust of the flesh”. Our flesh is weak at times and yet it would seem that we neither recognize it, nor do we understand how to defend against it when the temptation to sin it’s near.

Anytime Superman thought there was a possibility of Kryptonite being in his immediate vicinity, he would arm himself with some sort of lead shielding to give him protection from its effects. Lead had the ability to render Kryptonite harmless.

In James 4:17 we read; ‘Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.’

A recovering drug addict or alcoholic must separate themselves every day from the circle of friends that they used to get high and party with. Former gang-bangers must avoid hanging on the corners of their neighborhoods, the sex addict must avoid pornography, and anything remotely resembling it….the list and the struggle goes on.

We are admonished to completely submit our lives to God, by doing so we will ignor (resist) Satan's prompting our thought process to commit sin in our flesh. (Ref. James 4:7)


Sin threatens to make us weak and rob us of our God given status in the Kingdom. It separates us from God and keeps us at a distance that interferes with our ability to share intamacy with him.

Essentially what Paul is saying in Galatians is; “Know Your Kryptonite”, and also know how to defend against. So he writes further:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Galatians 5:22-25

Following after the Spirit of Christ is the way to avoid succumbing to our flesh. An old song that my mother used to sing was: “I’m wrapped up, tied-up, tangled up in Jesus and the world can’t do me no harm…” When we put on Christ, he becomes the lead shield which guards against our Kryptonite; therefore we will not fall so easily into the sins of the flesh…

“Do You Know Your Kryptonite?”

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