The Seduction of Power

The human heart was never designed to carry power apart from God. When Adam fell, we inherited a dangerous mixture of ambition, fear, pride, and self-rule. And when you stack money, authority, or influence on top of that brokenness, corruption doesn’t just become possible — it becomes predictable. Scripture already warned us of this when Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).  

You can see it everywhere today. Leaders exposed. Systems collapsing. Scandals on every side. It’s not a left problem or a right problem; it’s a human problem — the fruit of a world trying to function without the fear of God. Power without humility becomes poison. Position without character becomes a snare. Money without stewardship becomes an idol. Influence without integrity becomes a weapon. Jesus said, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). The world applauds gaining. Heaven weighs the cost.  

The reason power corrupts is because the human heart naturally drifts toward self-exaltation.  Pride is the default setting of fallen humanity. This is why Scripture repeatedly warns that, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). When people rise to positions where consequences vanish, the inner man eventually shows. Jesus said plainly, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). Today we see that out of the abundance of the heart, the choices speak. Power merely exposes what was already there.  Money magnifies the cracks. Position amplifies the character.  

But here’s the powerful part — Scripture shows us this exposure isn’t random. Luke 12:2 says, “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.  ” What we’re witnessing across politics, business, entertainment, and even religious institutions is not chaos — it is divine mercy. God is pulling the curtain back, not to embarrass people, but to cleanse what has been corrupted. Hebrews 12:27 teaches that God shakes what can be shaken so that only what is unshakable remains. The shaking of our generation is evidence that God is near, not absent.  

And this is why every follower of Jesus must guard their heart. The same corruption that destroys the powerful can destroy the everyday man. Paul warned the church, “If anyone thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). The moment a man says, “That could never be me,” he has already stepped onto the edge. Pride blinds. Humility reveals. Power is safe only in the hands of someone who has been crucified with Christ, as Paul wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).  

The cure to corruption is not a new political party, a new system, or a new watchdog agency.  Those things may help, but they don’t cure the disease. The only cure is a new heart — a heart regenerated by the Holy Spirit, anchored in Scripture, shaped by repentance, and submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Ezekiel 36:26 says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.” When Christ governs a man internally, power will not ruin him externally. When a man treasures Jesus above money, he becomes what Jesus described in Matthew 6:24 — a man who refuses to serve two masters. When a man fears God, he will not abuse people. When a man walks in the Spirit, he will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).  

The world we’re watching unravel is simply reaping what it has sown, but the Kingdom we belong to “cannot be shaken” (Hebrews 12:28). And those who walk humbly with God in this hour will shine as lights in a crooked generation (Philippians 2:15). If corruption is everywhere, then opportunity is everywhere — the opportunity for God’s people to show what true integrity looks like, what Christ-centered leadership feels like, and what it means for a heart to be governed by the King of Kings instead of the idols of money, status, or self.