I believe God speaks in many different ways to different people. God speaks to me through movies sometimes. It’s almost like a live commentary, the holy spirit speaking whilst the movie is playing. The first time this happened was when I went to watch Spider-Man 2 sometime in 2004…
Spider-Man 2 is one of my all time favourite movies.
Spider-Man was sick of being spider man. Because he was spider man he was always late for work. Because he was spider man he had no time to do his assignments. But most importantly, because he was Spider-Man he could not be with the girl he loved. So one fine day he decided that he did not want to be Spider-Man anymore. He stopped saving people in distress. He stopped chasing after crooks. But he now had time to do his work and he could now commit to the girl he loved. Things were better this way, he thought. But what of the times when he saw bad guys beating up their victims in the streets? What happens when he hears a string of police cars racing after criminals? His conscience pricked him tremendously. He knew he had the power to help. He knew it was his destiny to help.
One day Spider-Man was talking to his beloved aunt. I suppose she knew that he was Spider-Man. She said that sometimes in life to fulfil your destiny, you have to give up your dreams. Spider-Man also remembered that his uncle once said that with great power comes great responsibility. And Spider-Man knew in his heart that he could not stop being spider man. His selfish dreams had to die. He was given a gift and it was his choice whether or not to exercise it. So Spider-Man returned. He discarded his own selfish ambition and embraced his calling. And he really thought there was no way his dreams could ever be fulfilled in light of this decision. He even told the girl that.
I’m sure we sometimes feel like spider man did. For a while, I’ve felt like Spider-Man. I have many fleshly desires which conflict against the spirit. And I wonder why it’s so difficult to journey with God. And just like spider man, my very precious dreams have to die in order that God’s will be fulfilled in my life. As Solomon said, “there is a time to be born and there is a time to die” (Ecclesiastes 3:2). There comes a point in time when our old self has to die. Only then can the new creation truly be born. And we do have a choice whether or not to die to self. Just like how
Spider-man had a choice. He could revert to his old life before he knew of his gift or he could choose to embrace the new life that had been freely given to him. It’s all about choice.
With great power comes great responsibility. I’m sure we all know about the parable of the talents. “For everyone who has will be given more, whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him” (Matthew 25:29). When spider man was struggling against his gift, the unwillingness in his heart affected his ability to cast webs. It soon reached the point where he could no longer exercise his gift. Similarly, if we decide in our hearts that we do not wish to invest our talents in the kingdom of God, we will soon lose it. Once again, it’s all about choice.
There was one scene in the movie where the civilians finally saw the face of the man behind the spider man mask. And one of them commented, “he’s just a kid”. And very often that’s how I feel. I would tell God, “I’m just a girl. Are you sure I can go through that and emerge alive? I don’t think I can do it and more importantly, I don’t want to do it.”
The reason why the civilian was surprised to find that spider man was just a kid was because of his supernatural ability. However, it’s never about whether I can do it but it’s about God working through me supernaturally. “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26) Having dealt with that, what remains is whether we are willing to allow God to work in us supernaturally. It takes faith to believe that God will not test us beyond what we can bear (1 Cor 10:13). But we must make the choice to bear it.
At the end of the movie, after spider man had made the choice to be who he was called to be and after he had fought the villain, his dreams were fulfilled after all. The girl turned up at his apartment and told him this: you spend all your time saving others, now let me save you. The most important reason why anyone should choose the spirit over flesh is because we need to save ourselves. “The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind controlled by the spirit is peace and life” (Romans 8:6).
The next time you watch a movie, open up your ears, eyes and heart and you’d be surprise how the Lord can speak through something as simple as watching a movie…
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