"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." (Lord Acton). We can see throughout history the corrupting influence that power has on the minds and hearts of those who seek it out or attempt to maintain their grip on it once they suppose that they have got it. But I believe that the Lord has shown us a way to grow in strength and capacity and yet still escape this corruption. If power tends to corrupt, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely, then the following corollary is also true: "Service tends to sanctify, and absolute service sanctifies absolutely." Consider the following: "And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth." (Luke 22:24-27) "So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." (John 13:12-17). When we talk of service in the church, one of the things that we focus on is the importance of magnifying our callings. If we are doing our service correctly, then the Lord will full us with His grace and magnify our abilities and we will grow in wisdom and in stature and in grace with God and men. But the danger is that as we are magnified and become greater, we might lose focus on the reasons for which our power has increased - namely, for the blessing and service of those we have been called to help - and we may be tempted to focus instead on how great we have become. The danger in this is that once we have begun to focus on ourselves, the Lord will no longer magnify us because we no longer need an increase in power and abilities because we are no longer focusing on serving and helping others. We have become accustomed to the satisfaction and pleasure that comes from growing in power and abilities, but we are no longer doing the things that would require the Lord to magnify and increase our capacity. So we try to find other ways of growing or at least holding onto the power that we have gained, but since the true source of all strength and power is the Lord, and since He will not give us power only to satisfy our pride or our vain ambitions, in the end we will only end up cannibalizing what remaining strength we have and using coercion, intimidation and deception to bully and dominate others into preserving this idea of power that we are clinging to. If initially we were serving with humility and love and full purpose of heart, such that the Lord blessed us with increased gifts and talents so that we could have the power to serve and take care of the needs of ten brothers and sisters, but then in our pride we abandon our brothers and sisters, then naturally we will lose out on all of that increased capacity as we now only are looking out for the interests of one person. When we keep the focus where it belongs and desire not power for its own sake, but only the power to continue to serve and bless the lives of others, that service that embodies the pure love of Christ sanctifies and preserves and protects us from the corruption that increased power tends to bring. Until His final moments on the Cross, Jesus Christ did not consider it beneath the dignity of the Messiah to comfort the condemned prisoners being crucified on either side of Him. He was always focusing on saving and comforting and serving His brothers and sisters, and it was this absolute, infinite service that truly made Him the most sanctified and holy, and allowed Him to take absolute power unto Himself without ever being corrupted by it.
