Power at the Magazine Rack

 

“The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.” Edmund Burke

 
In 1990, James Baker, President George H.W. Bush’s closest friend and at the time his secretary of state, delivered a remarkable address before the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. In it, he told a story to illustrate the fleeting nature of power. While his driver took him to work one morning in his sleek black limousine, Baker noticed a man walking down the street alone. He recognized him as a former chief of staff. Baker said, “That mental picture continually serves to remind me of the impermanence of power and place. That man had it all, but only for a time.”
  Power and influence – here today, gone tomorrow. We humans crave power. Yet, we forget how temporary all power is.
  The Christian acknowledges that all power belongs to God. This means that God is the giver of power and that any power we possess should be used to bring glory to Him. Yet ever since the Fall, we humans are power brokers, looking for ways to use and amplify power for our own ends.
  In her book, None Like Him, Jen Wilkin focuses on four of the most common sources of power in our world. To discover them, we don’t need to look any further than the front covers of the magazines in the store checkout line. Our culture gives power to the strong, the beautiful, the wealthy, and the charismatic.
  Sports Illustrated: Physical strength is power. The physically strong wear Super Bowl rings, boast Olympic medals, endorse sport drinks. But we often cross the line into an idolatry of physical strength. It’s seen in the way we glorify physical fitness and most evident in the way we marginalize those who don’t possess it: the elderly, disabled, children. Yet, when we employ our physical strength to glorify God, we protect the weak among us with every bit of energy that we can employ.
  Glamour: Physical beauty is power. Our culture gives power to the attractive and beautiful. There’s an episode of Seinfeld where Jerry dates a beautiful blond woman named Nikki, using her attractiveness to gain preferential treatment wherever he takes her. At one point he intentionally tests the boundaries of what she can get away with, breaking the speed limit and boasting of his top speed to the cop who pulls him over, confident Nikki will get him out of the ticket. And she does.
  The attractive among us live a charmed existence where power isn’t earned or coerced; it’s simply granted. It’s why we’re willing to spend thousands of dollars and hours to achieve or maintain attractiveness. The beauty industry feeds us the tantalizing lie that if we fix the outside, we’ll fix the inside. Products and services promise we’ll feel better if we look better. But for the believer, how we look doesn’t rank high on the list of that which gives us joy and peace or helps us serve God and others.
  True beauty begins with internal change, not external. True beauty will withstand the passage of time. It’s why we must cultivate the beauty that points toward eternal purposes: the unfading beauty of a godly and gentle spirit. True beauty has staying power. It doesn’t fade on its owner but points others toward its origin. How hard we work for external beauty versus internal beauty reveals where our treasure lies. Inner beauty sees the least among us and sees them as beautiful even when others do not.
  Forbes: Wealth is power. The wealthy receive either admiration or envy. Nothing opens opportunities like money. We may not be a Warren Buffet, but all of us have some experience of the power that money conveys, whether it’s because we have it or because we don’t. Wealth gets better seats at the game, a better table at the restaurant, better nutrition, better health care, better education, better clothes, even better legal representation. Anyone who’s moved up the economic ladder can identify with writer Beatrice Kauffman, “I’ve been poor and I’ve been rich. Rich is better.” There’s more truth there than we’d like to admit.
  To be poor is to be powerless. In a culture of “self-made” financial success stories, we can easily view our personal wealth as our rightful possession, along with the power it grants, to be enjoyed and employed solely by us and for us. Precisely because wealth confers power, the Bible goes to great lengths to give us a correct understanding of how it’s to be viewed. It contains multiple warnings against greed, arrogance, and self-sufficiency that often accompany wealth.
  Regardless of how much money we’ve been given, for the Christian, the question must always be, “Do I control the money, or does the money control me?” A believer unable to give liberally has lost control of stewarding the wealth entrusted to them. We must do so joyfully, knowing we have nothing that we didn’t receive from our Father in heaven.
  People: Charisma is power. We grant power to those with outgoing personalities. Gifted with persuasive speech, humor, or the ability to cast a vision, they draw us in with their communication skills. They form networks of relationships they use to forward their causes. They’re the CEOs and NFL coaches, self-help gurus and news anchors. They’ve discovered the tantalizing truth that words have power to destroy and to create. In everyday life, they rise to the top of the mommy group, the PTA, the dinner party, or any other group they bless with their presence, even churches. Most of us don’t have the charisma of a presidential candidate, but we all taste the power of personality to some extent. Believers who are extremely likable face the challenge of drawing others to themselves rather than to Christ. The rest of us must guard against following the cult of personality. Wanting to be in the entourage of someone perceived as influential shows a desire for collateral power.
  Physical strength, beauty, wealth, and charisma—these are just a few of the most obvious sources of power we chase. Today is Palm Sunday. Rather than enter Jerusalem on a white horse, a symbol of power, Jesus came on the back of a donkey, the epitome of humility. Our Lord didn’t impress or overpower anyone with His physical strength or wealth. Though His ministry and message convinced many, He chose silence rather than persuasive speech when facing His accusers. Knowing that all power belonged to His Father, He walked humbly among us, leaving for us an example of how true power is nowhere more clearly understood than through the filter of human weakness. Unlike the passing power of our world, His power transformed human hearts from stone to flesh and it’s still transforming them today. He’s King Jesus! My friend, have you let the truly powerful One transform your heart and life?

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