The Gift of Power

I just started reading Playing God: Redeeming the gift of power by Andy Crouch, thanks to a book reading group at my church, Grace Chapel. I’m already drawn in by the premise that power is a gift and by his central question: How do we use our power to make people and things around us flourish?

Crouch affirms what we at IISC believe about power being neither positive nor negative. He suggests that many of us refuse to acknowledge our power because we fear that it is ultimately and always a corrosive force, or worse. Power, Crouch says, “at its worst and best is a matter of the heart.” We have the choice to use our power for creative, constructive purposes or for destructive, selfish purposes.

In order to make the choice, though, Crouch urges us to see and understand our power. “Unmapped power” he says, “is a perilous thing… unmapped and unknown, power’s grip is hard to shake.”

As you contemplate your power – personal and collective, what aspects of it are unmapped and unacknowledged? What creative, constructive purposes will you use your power to achieve?