We'll put up with a lot from our politicians. But not everything.
We really don't like it when someone in power abuses that power. For personal gain. Personal revenge. Covering up wrongdoing. Or exploiting other people.
Right now, one former governor is in the news for allegedly using his position to feather his own financial nest. And accusations are flying about another governor who some say used his power to punish or intimidate. So far, no evidence that proves the accusations. But accusations are sometimes all it takes to turn public opinion.
On the other hand, the press can abuse its power, too. Editing, arranging, slanting the news to serve their view of how the world should be.
My first brush with the abuse of power was Boomer. Our neighborhood bully. I'm not sure if his mother predestined his bullyness by naming him Boomer - or if he just plain earned it.
He was the biggest kid on the block. So he intimidated and threatened and ripped off us little kids. He got away with it. Just because he was big. We hated it.
We still do. All of us.
I find it very easy to see power being abused when it's someone else. But not so much when it's me.
Because, in one way or another, most of us have some kind of position that gives us power. I'm a husband - I have the power to elevate my wife or push her down. I'm a parent - which gives me all kinds of power to make my children feel very special or very small.
I'm an employer - and that puts me in a driver's seat where I can dominate or develop people. Use them to serve me or use my position to serve them.
There are men who use their power to use and abuse and diminish women. Thus exposing what small men they are.
There are women who use their power to manipulate and control. Thus forfeiting the tenderness and selflessness that makes a woman truly beautiful.
There are parents who use the incalculable power they have to crush, to criticize, to belittle their children. Or to use a son or daughter to fulfill what they once were - or never were. And birthing a robot or a rebel in the process.
There are leaders who feel position entitles them to ignore the rules and treat people as things. Thus failing as humans no matter how high they rise. And guaranteeing that one day the bill will come and be more than they can pay.
Power is a trust. Not a weapon. Not a platform for your personal agenda. Not a license to live for yourself.
In my lifetime, there have been people I had to follow. Only because they were in the power position. Then there have been those I wanted to follow whether they had the position or not. Because of their character. Leading, not using. Leaving you encouraged, not diminished...empowered, not erased. Forgiving, not punishing. Making other people feel important instead of acting like they were.
That's power.
Not being a control freak. Which is often why we covet power. To be in control.
Must be first. Must call the shots. Must get you to do what I want you to do. Must get my way.
Tragically, that's put us in the danger zone with the One who has all the power there is. We've decided we'll take charge of a life that God created. Hijacking what is His to do with it what we want instead of what He planned. It's not surprising that the middle letter of sin is "I."
But defying God has a high price tag. In the Bible's words, "Your sins have separated you from your God" (Isaiah 59:2). I've felt that wall between me and God. I think we all have. Living with that wall means never knowing the purpose and the love I was made for. Dying with that wall there means it will be there forever.
My power grab of my life would have cost me everything. Except the amazing intervention of the very God I've rebelled against. "He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10). So I did the sinning. But Jesus did the dying. Blows me away.
The One with all the power set it aside to rescue me. And when I surrendered the wheel to Him, He moved into my life with all that power that raised Him from the dead.
Plus, He's bigger than any "Boomer" I'll ever face!
