We'll put up with a lot from our politicians, but not everything. See, we really don't like it when someone in power abuses that power for personal gain, to cover up wrongdoing, to exploit other people. I remember some years ago, there was a former governor allegedly using his position to feather his own financial nest. At least that's what he was accused of. And at the same time, there were accusations flying about another governor who some say had used his power to punish people and intimidate people. But accusations sometimes are all it takes to turn public opinion. Now on the other hand, the press can abuse its power, right? Slanting the news to serve their view of how the world, they think, should be. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Power is Abused." My first brush with the abuse of power was Boomer. Yeah, he was our neighborhood bully. I'm not sure if his mother predestined him to be a bully by naming him Boomer or if he just earned it. He was the biggest kid on the block. So he intimidated and threatened and ripped off all of us little kids; got away with it just because he was big. We hated it. We still do...all of us. I find it very easy to see power being abused when it's someone else, but not so much when it's me doing it. Because, in one way or another, most of us have some kind of position that gives us some kind of power in people's lives. You know, being a husband. Well, then I would have the power to elevate my wife or push her down. As a parent, well it gives me all kinds of power to make my children feel very special or very small. As an employer, well that puts me in a driver's seat where I can dominate or develop people. There are men who use their power to use and abuse and diminish women. Thus exposing what small men they are. There are women who use their power to manipulate and control, and therefore forfeiting the tenderness and the selflessness that makes a woman really beautiful. There are parents who use the incalculable power they have to crush, to criticize, to belittle their children. Or to use a son or daughter to fulfill what they once were or what they never were and want to be and birthing a robot or a rebel in the process. There are leaders who feel their position entitles them to ignore the rules, be entitled, and treat people as things. Thus failing as humans no matter how high they rise. Power is a trust, not a weapon, not a platform for your personal agenda, not a license to live for yourself. In my lifetime, there have been people I had to follow just because they were in the power position. Then there have been those that I wanted to follow whether they had the position or not because of their character; leading, not using. Leaving you encouraged, not diminished. Making other people feel important instead of acting like they were important. That's power. Not being a control freak, which is often why we covet power; to be in control. Tragically, that puts us in the danger zone with the very God who has all the power there is. See, we'd like to be God for us. We've decided we'll take charge of a life that God created. It's called sin. We hijack it from Him. But defying God has a high price tag. In our word for today from the Word of God, Isaiah 59:2 it says, "Your sins have separated you from your God." Haven't you felt that wall between you and God? Living with that wall means never knowing the purpose and the love you were made for. Dying with it means it'll be there forever. Our power grab of our life would have cost us everything except for the amazing intervention of the very God we've rebelled against. The Bible says, "He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10). Picture that cross; Jesus dying there. And you could stand there and say, "For me, Jesus, this is for me." And once you have Him, you have the person who walked out of his grave under his own power, and He's bigger than any Boomer you'll ever face. Begin a relationship with Him. Go to our website and check out how to get that done. It's ANewStory.com. There's no reason to live one more day without the person who loves you the most.