The
Temptation of Power
“You all know
what the third temptation of Jesus was. It was the temptation to power. “I will
give you all the kingdoms of this world in their splendor”, the devil said to
Jesus…Jesus responded to the temptation of power with the words, 'You must
worship the Lord your God and serve God alone.' These words remind us that only
undivided attention to God can make a powerless ministry possible. As long as
we divide our time and energy between God and others, we forget that service
outside of God becomes self-seeking, and self-seeking service leads to
manipulation, and manipulation to power games, and power games to violence, and
violence to destruction. In serving God we find our true self which no longer
needs social affirmations but is free to offer a powerless ministry.” (Henri Nouwen)
I’ve
never faced the temptation to be a powerful world leader. Instead, the lure of
power has been more subtle—I would like to have control over my life and my
circumstances. I hate feeling vulnerable and powerless. I feel like I should
take care of myself. This prods me to leave the fortress of God’s protection
and fight to further my agenda. I put on a bullet-proof vest and go out to
battle with a false sense of security. The Enemy just shoots me in the head.
“The temptations
of being relevant, spectacular, and powerful are real temptations and stay with
us all of our lives. They are strong because they play directly on our desire
to join others on the upwardly mobile road.” (Henri Nouwen)
Nouwen
recommends that we follow Christ’s example of ‘downward mobility’—accepting that
ultimately all power, control, relevance, and glory belong to God.
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