Thursday, August 4, 2016

the danger of power

Lewis talks about being impacted by "the other" today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He talks about how his wife used to draw him out of himself, by being "other" than what he thought or expected. That's the great thing about reality... and about God. It's not always what we expect. Like when we're dreaming... we can almost always predict what is going to happen. Of COURSE that spider came out of there... I knew it would. And yes, here we are again having to climb through a hole that's too small for me... our dreams rarely surprise us.

But reality does. God does. God, not being a tame lion, does things in our lives that we're not expecting. And as long as we're trusting Him, we can find delight in that surprise.

However, thinking about the "other" made me realize one of the reasons that power is so dangerous. The more powerful you are, the less that others challenge you. The more YOUR will is done, and not the will of other people, not even God (of course His will is done ultimately, but you've seen people with great power throwing all of their money at some issue that God has brought into their lives in order to keep it from happening). I think of Michael Jackson, whose great wealth gave him so much power that he lived in a world of his own imagination. He lost touch with reality, because the power of his money made his reality conform completely to his will. That's a dangerous place to be.

And Lewis realizes that. He mourns the loss of his wife, among other reasons, because she is no longer physically present with him to prevent him from creating her again in his own mind.

God, thank You for keeping us from becoming so powerful that we lose touch with reality... especially the reality of You.