Wednesday May 7
“The
humble...retain honor.” Pr 29:23 NKJV
THE
DANGER OF PURSUING POWER
The first lie Satan told Adam and Eve was a direct
appeal to the ego in all of us: “You will be like God” (Ge 3:5 NRS). The crafty
old serpent pulled back the curtain to heaven’s throne room and gave our first
glimpse of power and glory, and they were hooked. And we’ve been hooked ever
since! If you’ve spent any time in the presence of social climbers and “name
droppers” you realize human nature hasn’t changed much. It’s still about
staying on top! And since manners can take you where money alone can’t, you can
actually take classes that’ll teach you “power table manners.” Things like
never handing your plate to the server, and never stooping to retrieve dropped
silverware. In fact, to insure your place on the ladder of upward mobility, a
cardinal rule is never to stoop at all! Not even to meet people’s needs, admit
your mistakes, or give to those who can’t repay you. The pursuit of power makes
you think you’re better than others, and prevents you from serving them. It
makes you susceptible to flattery, resistant to honest counsel, and leads to
isolation and non-accountability. You see it everyday in little things like
never complimenting those under you in case they “forget their place”; refusing
to be loving and courteous to your mate in case you lose your most powerful
weapon-control; putting personal ambition ahead of personal integrity;
withholding intimacy to punish and manipulate someone. Such power plays are designed
to get you what you want at other people’s expense. That’s why the Bible warns,
“A man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble...retain honor.”
Taken from the Word for You Today Devotional
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