Love Overpower

Power. There are those who say "Power makes the world go round." There are those who say "Love makes the world go round." So who's right?

Power is defined as an ability to achieve a desired goal, and/or an ability to influence others. It comes in a variety of forms: money, influence, beauty, high intelligence, control, fame, military strength, political clout, uncanny wisdom, etc.

The world is obsessed with power. When a person gains power, it's never enough and only more power is craved for. This greed for more power, or avarice, is like sea water - the more you take of it, the thirstier you get.

Why is it never enough?

First of all, this unlimited greed for more power is caused by a lack of purpose, a clear reason for obtaining that power. A person obsessed with gaining power has no justifiable reason to accumulate more power, he/she just wants more for the sake of it.

So to solve this, we have to answer the ultimate question: What is the purpose of power?

The answer is this: "Power exists only to serve love. Because God is love, power ultimately exists to serve God."

You see, power is but a tool, a slave even, for a higher purpose. God gave each person his/her own "ability" or "power" in each one's unique ways, to serve Him and to serve one another with love. Whether you are a rich man or a poor man. you have your own God-given power to use for God's purpose of love.

Power is but a slave of love, and cannot be above love. It's purpose is to serve love, to extend love to others. And since God is love, He being the source of all love and happiness, power inevitably exists to serve God.

Hence, power will lose its primary purpose if power is placed above love, if power becomes more important to a person than love.

The predictable result is corruption. We see this truth in people who have made power their ultimate goal. Observe them well, and see how power corrupts them and their relationship with God and others. As the saying goes "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Witness men who abused their God-given power. Examples are Hitler, who used the military might of Germany to conquer, and in the process exterminated millions of Jews.

Atilla the Hun, nicknamed "Scourge of Europe", who terrorized the known world in his time and caused untold deaths and war with other nations.

Contrast this with men and women who used their God-given power for good and the love of God and others. Examples are Pope John Paul II, who helped defeat the evils of communism and eventually helped to eradicate it by exposing it as a flawed ideaology.

St. Francis of Assisi, the son of a very wealthy man, who gave up his elite status and privileges. He served the poor, and eventually founded his own order, "Order of Franciscan Friars" (OFM). This order has spread throughout the world and is one of the largest today.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who reminded the world of the need to love the poorest of the poor, and became the founder of her own order "Missionaries of Charity", one of the largest in the world.

What makes a man or woman great is not how much he or she possessed power, but rather how that person used it - for either good or evil.

A rich man who used his power for evil, selfish purposes is poor indeed. The poor man who does good, even with very little power on this world is still the greater, richer person in the end.

For as the Bible quotes "What profits a man if he gains the whole world....but loses his soul in the end?"