Yes, I did just use a Spiderman analogy...

I recently saw Spiderman 3 for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I had no idea of the plot - only that Harry turns out to be Gobby Jr (as Tobey Maguire's character calls him) and that Spiderman faces a couple of other nemesis, including one that is a back suited version of himself. Upon watching the movie, I was almost disgusted when the black sticky thingy manifested itself onto Peter Parker's body, transforming him into a much darker character. It gave me the willies seeing the sticky mass  of goo flopping over the floor and up the bed and consuming Peter Parker.

It reminded me of the sin in our lives. How sin is malleable and can transform even the best person into the worst of people. Just as the "new' Peter Parker discovered, the longer he wore the suit, the harder it was to get rid of it. It started out small but eventually grew bigger and bigger to the point where it consumed him. He felt good, invincible. In a way, sin has the same effect. We don't really realize we're doing it until it confronts us in the face. And the longer we resist changing our behavior, the harder it becomes to rid ourselves of it. In the end of the movie it took a monumental effort for Peter Parker to get rid of the new skin. The sin didn't just go away. It found a new host. And this particular character had a lot of hate in his heart. The messy blob latched right on to that and the character became totally evil. He succumbed to the nature of the parasite that got him. Sin is the same way. If we have unresolved anger, bitterness, conflicts - you name it - in our lives, the sin latches on to it. It can make us completely unrecognizable.

That's where Christ comes in. We can't rid ourselves of the sin in our lives. Jesus died on the cross to enable us to have the free gift of salvation. But that does not mean we are perfect, or sinless or without blame. We have to work that much harder because we now recognize the hopeless situation we are in. That without that saving Grace we are forever stuck with that messy blob that sin creates. One way to combat this it to constantly stay in the Word. I have rediscovered this recently. It's not enough to read a couple verses a day - we have to immerse ourselves in it. If we cannot arm ourselves with the weapons He has provided, we are defenseless and it is easy to succumb to the temptations of sin in the world. It's amazing how quickly we can slip away when we let other things take priority to spending time in the Word.   We have to make God our #1. If He is not our main focus, if we are not living for him, then we are walking a fine line and that is a dangerous place to be. Make Christ your focus, spend time in the Word and He will make your path straight.   :)