The Power of Change...

I think I was in high school the first time I heard the quote.  It’s often attributed to the formally named John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton.  Acton didn’t invent the idea though, he just happened to be the guy who articulated it in what would become its most popular form. 

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Of course as with all popular quotes, it wasn’t long before others were inventing spin-off quotes.  One of my favourites is attributed to a guy named Orrin.  Orrin’s response to Acton was, “Absolute power doesn’t corrupt, rather it reveals character.”  We would all sin more had we more means and opportunity.  Having more power gives us that additional means and opportunity.  It is why leaders of populist movements often become tyrants when they come to power… suddenly they have the means and the opportunity to become what they have always been (I think this is part of what the writer of Proverbs 30:8-9 was getting at).

I’m an ideas guy.  For me when I step into a new leadership role one of the first things I do is explain, “I’m going to be doing some things differently.  I’m going to try new ideas.  Some of them will work and some of them won’t.”  For me, power creates the opportunity to affect change.

Generally religious people love change… so long as they don’t have to change.  People love new leadership… so long as the leader leads in the direction that they want to go… or worse, so long as the leader has no intention of leading anywhere.

Jeremiah was proven prophet of God.  Everything he had prophesied in the name of the LORD came to pass.  So it’s not surprising that the people who had just experienced the brutality of Babylon, the destruction of their city and temple, the murder and captivity of their friends, families and countrymen would come to Jeremiah and say, “What now?  What do we do now?  Lead us!  Whatever you say God wants us to do we will obey!” See Jeremiah 42.

It is my contention that it is not power that corrupts so much as it is the lust for power.  It is also true that many a good leader has been accused of being corrupt simply because the people they were trying to lead did not want to be led.  It seems an almost universal and eternal truth that as soon as a leader identifies a direction, there will always be a contingent that will not want to go. “Lead us! Lead us!” they say… until you try…

Read Jeremiah 43… 

Just sayin’