Peter Parker didn’t ask to be Spiderman. He was a slightly-geeky teenager who received a spider bite and discovered he had “gifts” that other high school sophomores didn’t.

He could spin webs from his fingertips. And defy gravity. All good stuff when your previous strong suit was chemistry, and you never got the girl.

But Peter didn’t immediately become a superhero. That took time…and tragedy. His beloved uncle was killed in a street crime that he might have prevented. As a result of this heartbreaking loss, he began to use his unplanned powers for the good of mankind.

Peter Parker didn’t ask to be Spiderman, and shepherd-boy David never asked to be king. He was selected from a sibling line up by prophet Samuel, when he, too, was just a teenager. Then he spent years in an odd training program: running for his life from the misguided man he was destined to replace.

But when word came that King Saul had died, the young man-who-would-be-king did not celebrate – he grieved:

“Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and so also did all the men who were with him. And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan and for the people of the Lord and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.” (II Samuel 1:11-12)

Peter and David learned the hard way that with power and “chosen-ness” come responsibility…and that there’s more to a leader than his public performance. Leaders are made in private – and just putting on the crown doesn’t make a man a king, any more than putting on the blue and red leotard made a nerdy boy a superhero.

Peter was a hero because of his heart. And David was a king because of his heart for God. He so identified with God and His interests that he didn’t view Saul’s death as his gain– he saw it as a tragic end to the man that God had placed in power over David and all of Israel.

Maybe you’re saying, “I don’t know what this has to do with me. I’m more Peter Parker than Spiderman. I’m more shepherd boy than king. And I’m certainly not marked for greatness.”

Oh – but you are wrong! You and I are more than superheroes or kings! We’re sons and daughters – joint heirs with Christ and image bearers of the King of Kings. “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26)

It is not enough for us to “put on the uniform” and go through the prescribed motions of worship, devotion, service and prayer – or to simply live a “cleaner” life than the man or woman next door.

We must be changed – in private, and from the inside out. Because power doesn’t make a man. Power reveals a man.

© Leigh McLeroy 2002