Superman fan transforms into his hero
Filipino designer Herbert Chavez has taken his love for Superman up, up and away, undergoing cosmetic surgery to look like the Man of Steel.
For more than a decade, the 35-year-old Chavez has undergone a series of procedures that have made his nose higher and slimmed down his thighs. He has had surgery on his cheeks, lips and chin, and injections to whiten his skin.
“Superman is my idol. I want to look like him,” Chavez said.
Once a typical-looking Filipino, Chavez now has the firm-jawed face of Clark Kent.
A curl of black hair falls on his forehead, and he occasionally sports the thick, black glasses of his idol's nerdier incarnation, mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent.
He is planning an operation that will give him a more muscular abdomen and is looking at specialised surgery in Japan that will insert metal in his legs to make him taller.
Extreme devotion
This kind of devotion might seem a bit extreme, but it shouldn’t be. For Christians should be so devoted to the Lord Jesus that we desire to be like him.
God’s great purpose in our life is that we might “be conformed to the likeness of his Son”;
“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29).
We are told to “clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 13:14). Paul knew that the Thessalonians had become Christians because they “imitated Christ”, even though they were suffering because of it (1 Thess. 1:6).
This transformation requires a renewed mind and attitude (Eph. 4:22-24; Phil. 2:5). Cosmetic surgery, injections or wearing your underwear on the outside will not get you there. Transformation comes from the inside out, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
It involves being willing to sacrifice all, submit all and self-deny all (Luke 9:23, Eph. 5:1-2)
And it will lead to service and suffering (Gal. 5:13, 2 Tim. 3:12).
The Christian life involves “looking” less and less like your old self, and more and more like Jesus. Sounds extreme? Not if Jesus is your hero.