Pursuit of Power or Hunger for Honour: In Our World, in War and Politics, and in You and Me

My home country of Australia is currently in the throes of multiple elections and lead ups to elections both at a state and federal level. It doesn't take long in such a situation where someone will raise the idea of 'power hungry' politicians.  

Here on the Africa side of the world, I often hear people complaining about various leaders who are just 'power hungry'. 

And our world is currently watching war and destruction, which so many have commented is driven by one man's power. 

So why do we seem to live under the curse of such situations instead of our world being able to just plod along in peace and harmony?

The Pursuit of Power

This 'malady' is not only to be seen however, in politics and war. We see it in business, in sports, in families. Humans seem to have this inbuilt desire to control others from a position of superiority of some kind - whether through institutional position or mental acuity, wits, knowledge or physical strength.  It is what we see in the whole issue of bullying…and our world's more recent issue of 'cyber bullying'.

I have also heard it said that this pursuit of power is the ultimate driver for much of what happens in our world - especially negatively and destructively. How often have you heard the phrase 'power corrupts'?…or the full version stated by Lord Acton in the 19th Century 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely'. You could probably give examples of that from history without a second thought.

However, does power always corrupt? A study done a decade ago found that some people when given power used the opportunity for good not evil and that people's 'moral identity', and if they previously thought of themselves as powerful or not, was what shaped their use of power. 'In sum, the study found, power doesn't corrupt; it heightens pre-existing ethical tendencies'. 

So maybe the statement by Abraham Lincoln that 'Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power', gives further insight into this human power problem.

Morality of Power

Psychologists speak about 'socialised power' which is used to benefit others and 'personalised power' that is focused on personal gain, although it is also said that 

Yet, leaders can delude themselves that they are working for the greater good (using socialized power), but engage in behavior that is morally wrong. A sense of power can cause a leader to engage in what leadership ethicist Terry Price calls "exception making" — believing that the rules that govern what is right and what is wrong does not apply to the powerful leader "for other people, this would be wrong, but because I have the best interests of my followers at heart, it's OK for me to...." During Watergate, the argument was made that President Nixon could not have acted illegally because "the President is above the law." (Ronald E. Riggio Ph.D Psychology Today, 2009)

So power isn't the only issue….how and why the power is used also needs to be considered, and who benefits from the power. So there is something else that 'drives' and 'frames' the power.

And although that might be called a person's 'moral identity', what is it that determines a person's moral identity or ethical framework?

The 'Honour' Motivation of Power

Well we have a hint at that in a statement made by Professor Laruelle from George Washington University, about the main 'power' issue currently flooding our world's TV screens: '"Putin sees Russia as a country that was humiliated but is now regaining its power and prestige and recognition". 

While she acknowledges this is about 'power', she also notes its about 'prestige and recognition', a desire to put right what is perceived as past 'humiliation'.

So what do these words convey?  These are 'honour' and 'shame' words.

Although she puts 'power' alongside 'prestige' and 'recognition' like they were three equally weighted terms, from what was highlighted earlier in this article, power is not just a side-by-side partner to such motivations, but an outworking of a deeper motivation. Power is the fruit of a deeper root desire, and how that power is used also stems from what is going on at a deeper root of morality and ethics.

I would suggest we have a combination where power and its outworking, is motivated by a desire for honour, and is determined by how that honour is morally rooted.

Power and its outworking, is motivated by a desire for honour, 

and is determined by how that honour is morally rooted.

I have often been told that honour and power are linked, but I have also had it argued that it's not power that gives honour, but honour that gives power, thus people are really seeking power not honour. So…

Is Pursuit of Power driving Hunger for Honour, or is Hunger for Honour driving a Pursuit of Power?

Which is it?…which is primary??  Do people seek power because really they are seeking honour, or are they seeking honour because what they really want is power?

There is a sense in which honour is seen as the route to power and power is the goal. But there is also the sense in which we see power gets people a position of honour and acclaim or recognition.

So in some ways this is not an easy differentiation to make, but as we have seen earlier, power is not an isolated dynamic; how it is outworked depends on deeper root conditions.

And why is this issue even relevant?

Because as we look at our world, and at our own hearts, if we don't deal with root issues, the root will continue to 're-shoot' into other further problems in the future. Not only this, but if the gospel of Jesus Christ is to be the remedy for the core root issues of sin, then if we don't identify root issues clearly we will not apply the gospel as it should be applied. And if the gospel is not applied with biblical clarity and accuracy, souls are going to 'miss' seeing how the gospel is for them and how it can change their lives and destiny for all eternity.

Furthermore, when we look at our world and its circumstances, if we don't truly 'see' what is happening at a root level, we will miss the opportunities we have to truly learn from them, and to use them to awaken people to the mechanisms of sin in the world and in our lives, so as to awaken people to the need for a right and perfect Saviour from such sin.

So far I have looked at these two issues of power and honour as simply observed and extracted from secular sources. But what if we look briefly at what the Bible has to say about how these two interact.

Power and Honour in Scripture

Power is often mentioned with honour-shame dynamics in Scripture, (Romans 1:16; Colossians 2:13-15) so that they are linked is not negated by Scripture.

However, how they are mentioned I think is worth taking an extra look, because I think we can learn something important - I certainly did:

1.  In Psalm 8:5-6 when the Psalmist asks 'what is man….?', he goes on to say...

'Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet'

First it states that human beings were given glory and honour in a position just a little lower than angels….and then it goes on to say humans were also given 'dominion' …in other words a power to rule. So we have honour first, out of which power comes. Honour is the source. Without positional honour there is no practical power. Honour is primary, power is secondary.

2. Colossians 2:15

'He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.'

Here we have a situation whereby because the powers were disarmed, they were put to shame. In other words, the process was the disarming of power, the outcome was to cause them to be put to shame (lose their honour). Honour is the goal, powerplay is the road to get there, thus Honour is primary, power is secondary.

3.  Acts 1:8

'…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses'

Once again the power has a purpose, it is not an end in itself. Here the power of God given us again in the Spirit is to honour and glorify God by being his witnesses - telling of his greatness, his glory in salvation, to the world, for the glory of his name among the nations.(Psalm 96:3)

4.  Job 36:22

'God is exalted in (or by) his power'

….ie the power results in exaltation…ie power gives/brings honour 

Thus we have the purpose of God's power is to give God exaltation. This gives us a fundamental baseline because God is the original source and meaning of honour and of power and if Scripture speaks of God's power as what enables, confirms, reveals, demonstrates his honour, again we have power having a purpose of establishing honour, thus honour/exaltation is the primary dynamic of the two. So to put it another way it does not say God is exalted to power, but that power brings to him, exaltation.

So because of his power that we see, experience and have confidence in, we are moved to honour and exalt him in his right 'Holy, Holy, Holy' position of honour as Romans 1:21 says we are supposed to do.

Replacing the Misplaced

So now that we see Scripture seems to indicate that the source or motivation of power is honour rooted, how do we apply that into making sense of our world, and our own hearts?

While we were given honour and thus power from God to rule his creation in accordance with his will, sin has messed up that perfect design. We lost the fulness of our honourable condition before God and ended up hiding in shame (Gen 2:16; 3:10). Thus the power we were meant to have and execute in wisdom, love and truth, we no longer do.  

But we haven't lost the desire for the honour and power we were created to have. There's a 'gap' in our lives we are desperate to fill…and there is an 'enemy of souls', the great 'deceiver', the 'father of lies' who roams about as a roaring lion seeking who he can devour and destroy!….and he has a goal of destroying God's creation not simply to mess us up, but to 'shame' God. He knows he has already lost his cause, but he is out to spitefully still take us much damage with him to his demise.

Thus he is still busy convincing people that honour can be found in alternative sources - in the eyes of other people or one's own eyes. So we develop 'morality' based on either what is right in God's eyes (Deut 12:25,28), or based on fear of how other people will think or react (1 Samuel 15:24), or what is right in our own eyes (Judges  21:25). And when we disregard God we end up developing our own 'morality' that serves our own purposes of success and ease as we try to live alongside others in the process.

So our desire for power is moulded in its pursuit and practice by what we think is 'right' in our own eyes within the limits (if any) of what others around us put on us. And if we can navigate that successfully, the outcome goal can be reached - that of honour/recognition/status/value/acclaim/fame etc. There is a sense in which this then feeds more opportunity for power - so honour feeds power - but this then continues to feed the cycle which still aims for the 'top'. It's not just that we want power, but we want power 'over' others…we want to be higher in position - in other words we want the honour/status.

It is only when we truly and self-sacrificingly (not self-exaltingly) seek the honour of others that Scripture talks about, with no thought for our own esteem and status, that we begin to use our power as we were created to use it….to care for God's creation for the good of others.  When we try to 'care for others' while making sure there is no cost to ourselves and really all the while factoring in and ensuring our own good outcomes, its not really pure power, but corrupted power.  It's really not from a base or root of holy honour but of misplaced honour seeking and manipulative honour giving.

The problem is that these issues are so deeply rooted in our sinful natures that we often don't recognise them in ourselves. And because the Western world and the Western church has failed to talk and teach much on honour-shame issues in the past century in particular, we don't recognise the dynamics that are driving issues of difficulty, conflict, power-grabbing, manipulation and corruption.

So when we see someone pursuing power, they are really hungry for honour. Thus, lets not overlook that when we see destructive and oppressive power-seeking in our world, the real cause is an honour problem and the real answer is an honour one - the true honour to be found in Christ…..an answer the gospel is there to give.

Photo attribution:

License: Creative Commons 3 - CC BY-SA 3.0 Attribution: Alpha Stock Images - http://alphastockimages.com/ Original Author: Nick Youngson - link to - http://www.nyphotographic.com/ Original Image: https://www.thebluediamondgallery.com/handwriting/p/power.html