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Topic: Power (05/10/04)
TITLE: THE POWER TO CHOOSE By Anthony David 05/12/04 |
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By
Anthony David Swaroop Kumar
Power. Images flash in my mind. Images of how people exercise raw power.
Adolf Hitler ordering the massacre of the Jews.
Nazi officials herding unsuspecting Jews into vehicles engineered cunningly to kill them.
I see the semi-starved concentration camp victims straining their muscles to dig. To dig their own graves.
Wanton exhibitions of raw power.
Even today, I see many images of such power. Power flaunted by those in authority. Power resulting in genocide and ethnic cleansing. Raw power!
The images I see are of brutal dictators suppressing people under them. Power in leaders who are autocratic. They may not be cruel as dictators. But yet they exercise power as a weapon: to coerce and to coax unwilling subordinates to bend to their will.
Power creating a tribe of hench men. Power so scared that these ‘leaders’ cannot tolerate a second line leadership.
These sort of power-mongers lord it over others under them. The very words of the most gentle of men. Who also happens the most powerful of them. (Luke 22:25)
Power, a perk of position and leadership. Power, which is addictive. Transient but tangible. So many today crave for such power.
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Is there any other sort of power? Yes indeed. There is a transforming power, and eternal power. The Lord Jesus talks about this. (Luke 22:26 – 27) The Almighty Son of God, Creator of the universe, came down to become a lowly human being. He emptied himself of all power to become totally human. He taught us servant-leadership. He said, ” ..the greatest among you should be the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves”. He took up a towel and a dish of water and washed the dirty feet of his disciples.
Have I seen images of this type of power? Yes indeed. I saw it in the face of Mrs.Gladys Staines, the widow of Graham Staines. This Australian missionary to India was brutally burnt alive along with his two sons. Cruel fanatics did this. Gladys, who lost the three most precious persons in her life, made a public statement. She forgave the perpetrator of this crime. Now that is power indeed.
Such is the power from the Saviour. It purifies and transforms all around. A power, which makes us, witnesses for Him. Witnesses who make the world upside down!
The power of forgiving, of transforming lives. This indeed is the true power. The power that matters. Only Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord and the Holy Spirit can give you this power.
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Choose your pick dear reader. Would you like to have raw power, which is ephemeral? Or would you like to have the transforming power offered by the Lord Jesus Christ?
You have the power now my dear reader, the power to make the choice!
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© 2004: Dr.M.A.David S Kumar