Family Movie Devotionals: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Read:
“With great power comes great responsibility,” is a quote made famous by Spider-Man comics. But what if great power and responsibility were given to a regular kid? That’s what Into the Spider-Verse is all about. Miles Morales is just an average student. But when he gets super powers, he decides to help save his city. The only problem is that Miles doesn’t know how to be a super hero! He’s never done this before. He faces many challenges as he tries to save the day, all of which knock him down. Miles just isn’t good at being Spider-Man. But the reason Spider-Man is able to keep fighting is because he doesn’t have to fight his battles alone. He has a group of other Spider men, women, and pigs that protect him, teach him, and help him become the hero he needs to be. The Christian life is a lot like this.

There are a lot of amazing things about being a Christian. We are saved from our sin and made perfect by Jesus, we have a close relationship with the God of universe, and we are given power by the Holy Spirit to do amazing things. But with all of these blessings comes a great responsibility. God allows his church to be the agents of change in our world. We are supposed to share the gospel, feed the poor, love our enemies, disciple one another, serve in our churches, generously give our time and money, repent and turn from our sins, pray for the lost, and the list goes on and on. That’s a lot of things! Sometimes it feels like too much. Why would God give all of that responsibility to a regular person like me? It’s because we’re not supposed to do it alone. Just like Miles felt overwhelmed with the responsibility of his new powers, it can seem impossible to do all that God has asked us to do. But just like Miles had the other Spider people to help him out, God has given us the church. We don’t have to have everything figured out on our own. We don’t have to struggle against sin and help the needy and spread the gospel by ourselves. The church is supposed to be a team, one unified body working together to make the world more like God’s kingdom. The blessings of God are stronger and sweeter when we live in community

1 Corinthians 12:12-14 says, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body… and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.” Just like our bodies are made up of many important parts, the church body is too. We are all an important part of the church with specific abilities and tasks given to us by God. And like a team of Spider people, we work together as one.

Discuss:

• Why is it better to live in community?
• As members of the body of Christ, we all have different tasks and talents that help the body work as it should. What are some of your tasks and talents you can use to help the church?

Pray:
Thank God that he has given us the church so we don’t have to face the responsibilities of life alone. Ask Him to help us rely on our community more.

These devotionals are resources you can use to teach your kids about Jesus! Movies have a unique ability to connect to and influence children, and we want to use this to advance God's Kingdom. These are designed for you to read with your children after you watch the movie. We pray these will be used to teach children in fun ways that they can easily understand. We hand these out at our monthly Community Movie Nights, where we show a free family-friendly movie (see our events page for upcoming dates).