Super Powers

I need to read more C.S. Lewis.

In my opinion the guy was a genius when it came to "breaking down" the things we think and do on our journeys.  Take for instance this excerpt from his Lenten devotional, "A Clean Heart Create in Me," that I read yesterday:

"On the one hand, God's demand for perfection need not discourage you in the least in your present attempts to be good, or even in your failures.  Each time you fall He will pick you up again.  And He knows perfectly well that your own efforts are never going to bring you anywhere near perfection.  On the other hand, you must realize from the outset that the goal towards which He is beginning to guide you is absolute perfection; and no power in the whole universe, except you yourself, can prevent Him from taking you to that goal....  I think that many of us, when Christ has enabled us to overcome one or two sins that were an obvious nuisance are inclined to feel (though we do not put it into words) that we should be obliged if He would now leave us alone.  As we say, 'I never expected to be a saint, I only wanted to be a decent ordinary chap.'  And we imagine that when we say this we are being humble.  But this is a fatal mistake.  Of course we never wanted and never asked to be made into the sort of creatures He is going to make us into.  But the question is not what we intended ourselves to be, but what He intended us to be when He made us."

I made some of the words stand out more than others deliberately here because, though I *knew* that we have the choice to say NO to God, it was startling to read in black and white (or orange) what a powerful choice that is.  

We call it a "choice" or "Free will," but I never really thought about it as a power. 

It is. 

It is in fact a SUPERpower that we've been given when you think about it:

We have the power to say NO to GOD. 

I like to think I never say "no" to God, but rather "not yet."  But that, too, is probably a "no" of sorts, isn't it?  Even if only a temporary one.  At the very least it's an exercising of my power to tell God that I will work on MY timeline, not His.    

I suddently realize that I like the idea of being powerful.  I have power.  A super power.

Then I wonder for a moment where that power came from.  Who gave me this power?

And the answer to that is a very sobering revelation that makes me want to say YES just a little bit more.