Fallen Kings and Fallen Kingdoms

Today’s Daily Reading is an excerpt from Morgan Snyder's book, Becoming a King

Today’s headlines are replete with stories of dethroned monarchs, religious or secular. Scripture is as well. Though the characters change, the story line remains the same: broken, unfinished, uninitiated men causing injury to the lives of others with the mishandling of power.

Think of the men who have held positions of authority over you in your own story. When did they use their power to meet their own unharnessed need for validation rather than offer their strength in the service of love? Coaches, teachers, pastors, bosses working out their core desire to feel powerful at the expense of those entrusted to their care. The list is long, and the damage is real. Kings of this world are notorious for using the talent of young men to serve their own needs to build their kingdom.

More sobering, when I survey my own domain and all that has been entrusted to my care, I see that my own mishandling of power has wounded those I love most. Though in ways I am growing and maturing in my capacity to love well, the harm I’ve caused others is undeniable and long-standing. I am not yet the man I was made to become. Both in acts of commission, where my power has hurt others, and in acts of omission, where I have failed to engage, to bring a genuine strength in love, I have brought harm. Even this morning I found myself needing to pause and invite my wife to sit face-to-face, heart-to-heart, so that I could take renewed responsibility for places where I have failed to bring into our story the strength and love she deserves.

And so we return to the question, when can you trust a man with power?

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