“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” (1 Peter 4:10 NIV)
The push for power has come to shove. And most of us are either pushing or being pushed.
I might point out the difference between a passion for excellence and a passion for power. The desire for excellence is a gift from God, much needed in society. It is characterized by respect for quality and a yearning to use God’s gifts in a way that pleases Him.
There are certain things you can do that no one else can. Perhaps it is parenting, or constructing houses, or encouraging the discouraged. There are things that only you can do, and you are alive to do them. In the great orchestra that we call life, you have an instrument and a song, you owe it to God to play them both sublimely.
But there is a canyon of difference between doing your best to glorify God and doing whatever it takes to glorify yourself. The quest for excellence is a mark of maturity. The quest for power is childish.
-- Max Lucado in “The Applause of Heaven”
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