Power and Humility

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." --John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton


"Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it." --William Pitt, the Elder, The Earl of Chatham


It seems to me that there are few persons in any arena, be it politics, business or even religion, who come to possess great power who are not eventually ruined by the possession of it. How often do we find, sometimes years later, that what we thought were great leaders and wonderful role models, were in reality people of questionable -- or even absent-- morality and ethics?

When the Lord Jesus came to live upon this earth, He stated clearly that "I can of Mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and My judgment is just; because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me." (John 5:30)

He also told His disciples "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." (Joh 5:19 )

The Lord Jesus willingly emptied Himself of all the power of His deity to rely completely upon His Father. He became totally submissive to the will of the Father. So we have the Person who spoke the universe into being, who sustains it by the Word of His power, being totally dependent upon His Father.

The sacrifice of perfect submission is such a quiet and beautiful portrait of the character of our Lord. He has the heart to be the "servant of all" and yet "in Him we live and move and have our being."