Often times our most difficult struggles are not with others but within ourselves.
A message from the movie Spiderman 3.
Romans 12:21 don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good. It could be Spiderman's mantra…. His life's quote; especially in this movie.
The movie in condensed form:
Having turned to crime fighting to avenge the death of his Uncle Ben; Peter Parker faces an even more sinister enemy in Spiderman 3.
At the beginning of the movie Peter finally has the girl of his dreams, Mary Jane Watson, and his city - New York is in the throes of Spider-mania! But when a strange alien symbiote turns Spider-Man's suit black, his darkest demons come to light changing Spider-Man on the inside as well as on the outside. Peter is then soon hit on all sides and his life that was just going so perfectly begins to unravel.
First, he hears that his uncle's murderer Flint Marko has escaped. Second he has a rival photographer named Eddie Brock in the Daily Bugle's newsroom who does anything he can to take his job.
Then thirdly he is dealing with his old friend Harry Osborn who still holds him responsible for his father's -aka the Green Goblin death.
These things coming at Peter test him and show us a darker side to Spiderman.
Out of his frustrations and trials he begins to lose everything; he is fighting all these enemies but the hardest one that he has to fight is the one that lives inside of him.
PRIDE
Proverbs 16:18 NLT - Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.
Message translation - First pride and then the crash, the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.
And Peter Parker falls hard. Here he is enjoying Spiderman's celebrity, while his girlfriend Mary Jane is struggling to make her way as an actress and entertainer in the big city and it isn't long before she begins to notice that Spiderman's self confidence has grown into an over confidence or cockiness. She's beginning to see a side to him that she doesn't really like.
Soon she warns Peter of the dangers and tells him that she wants to help him but Peter is already too filled with pride, believing his own press of how great he is and he thinks that he doesn't need help from anyone. He's Spiderman!!!! Soon this symbiote that has come from outer space and has fallen to the ground attaches itself to Peter and soon all that was lurking inside of his heart is no longer hidden but instead becomes evident to all those that come into contact with him. His inside nature changes him into a different person on the outside.
A scientist tells him that this goo seems to take on the characteristics of its host. And that's happened with Peter - it amplifies his strengths but it also amplifies his desire for vengeance and power too. Peter you see had not truly gotten over his uncles death…. There was still a deep bitter root buried inside of him that was only in need of a symbiote to uncover and help it grow and very soon Peter starts to like the darker changes that he's feeling.
First PRIDE – then……….. the DESTRUCTION.
Pride is like the yeast on all the other weaknesses that lurk inside of us; the revenge, the selfish ambition and our fits of rage. It helps all those other things that live there to grow and take over. He was losing perspective – which happens to just about everyone who starts to get tangled up with sin. They begin to blame everyone else BUT themselves. It is the fight between good and evil but what's most interesting about Spiderman 3 is that this evil lurking inside of Peter Parker is just like it is in each one of us. And it is a fight that each one of us also has to fight. We have to go to battle with our own sinful nature.
Galatians 5:19-21 in the message says… It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time; repetitive, loveless, cheap sex, a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage, frenzied joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods, magic show religion, paranoid loneliness, cutthroat competition, all consuming yet never satisfied wants, a brutal temper, an impotence to love or be loved, divided homes and divided lives, small minded and lopsided pursuits, the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival, uncontrollable addictions; and ugly parodies of community, I could go on….
Fortunately or maybe unfortunately, we don't come into contact with a symbiote that makes it so noticeable to those around us.
We are able to hide our sinful nature until those trials come upon us and they do come upon us just like it was in this movie a lot of times there isn't just one enemy fighting us but many.
We usually have some past hurt or pain that hasn't healed completely.
We usually have someone that has it out for us – someone that holds us responsible for upset in their lives.
We usually have someone who wants to get the better of us and is jealous of us.
How we handle and how we react to all those trials that are thrown at us will either make us or break us – and a lot of times how we fight it ends up hurting those that we love the most the worst.
With Peter Parker the secret lied in forgiveness just like it does with each one of us still today. When he finally decided to let unforgiveness and revenge go from his life and he instead made the choice to ask for help….he then began to fight off the symbiote of sin. Sadly though usually it takes what it took for Peter Parker; he needed to lose most everything that he cherished… and he had to come face to face with the person he had become. It was a person that he didn't want to become. But that's the thing with sin… it takes you much farther than you wanted to go and it keeps you much longer than you wanted to stay. There ARE MANY people walking around this world asking themselves "what happened to me?" Like I spoke to you in an earlier message – each of us has just as much potential as the next guy.
But what will make the difference – if you are good Spiderman or bad Spiderman will be determined with how you handle what is hidden in your heart and what side it is that you'll feed. It was a tough fight for Peter Parker; this symbiote didn't want to come off so easily.
The thing to notice though is that it took things being changed on the inside for the outside to change. Just the opposite is true for the hypocrites of today…who seem to look like the hero Spiderman on the outside but inside of them lurks the dark, menacing black Venomous Spiderman. Sin binds to us just like this symbiote bonded to Spiderman and it is just as difficult to unravel once it gets entangled around us. And even though we call Christianity a battle – for a lot of us the toughest battle will be fought on the inside.
Paul says in Romans 7:18, 19 I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do, NO the evil I do not want to do I keep doing.
What will determine your outcome will be decided by what it is that you surrender to.
Peter treats MJ badly – knocking her to the ground at the pub and then when he is speaking to his Aunt May telling her about killing the killer of Uncle Ben Aunt May tells him "I don't think there's any jubilation about somebody's death. Your uncle wouldn't want you living one second with revenge in your heart. It's like a poison; it takes over and before you know it turns us into something ugly". In a church Peter is able to finally fight off the symbiote but right below him it finds another host – Eddie Brock who has much more vengeance hidden inside of his heart.
The battlefield is within Christians themselves and the conflict will continue until this earthly life is over, and there is an end.
Galatians 6:7, 8 Do not be deceived God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows; the one who sows to please his sinful nature from that nature will reap destruction, the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
You have the choice to either surrender to the sinful nature's plans or you can surrender to the Holy Spirit's demands.
To do it – YOU WILL HAVE TO ASK FOR HELP AND GIVE UP THE CONTROL.
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