Power Can Be Painful

Power Can Be Painful

The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.

1 Corinthians 3:19

Power comes in many forms.

It’s the husband who refuses to be kind to his wife. . . .

It’s the employee who places personal ambition over personal integrity.

It’s the wife who withholds sex both to punish and persuade.

It might be the taking of someone’s life, or it might be the taking of someone’s turn. . . .

But they are all spelled the same: P-O-W-E-R. . . . And all have the same goal: “I will get what I want at your expense.”

And all have the same end: futility. . . . Absolute power is unreachable. . . .When you stand at the top—if there is a top—the only way to go is down. And the descent is often painful. . . .

A thousand years from now, will it matter what title the world gave you? No, but it will make a literal hell of a difference whose child you are.

The Applause of Heaven