The Power of Love

In a world where the love of power is celebrated and the power of love is downplayed, the idea of love and those who pursue it is steadily becoming unpopular. This is not surprising when we consider the ‘control’ that the acquisition of power gives. If you’ve got power, no one pushes you around anymore, you don’t have to beg anymore (I mean, who begs when they can bully their way through life or buy their way out of any fix?). The opportunities appear to be limitless to a man or woman of power.

No wonder the love of power has gained popularity over the power of love, and more so in a ‘dog eat dog’ world! Love, on the other hand, is seen as the fate of the weak, the bane of hopeless religion, and the consolation of the unambitious. If the perks of the love for power outweighs the power of love so much, then why the argument for love? Obviously, love has been misunderstood. Love is not weak, it is not hopeless, and certainly not unambitious.

Love seeks to conquer the world and make a paradise of it. To give our all to a dying world with a vision of a utopia for all humanity! To dream big and aim high in this abyss of a nightmare! What can be more audacious than that? What can be braver and more ambitious that this kind of love?

Love drives us to invest in people today because no one knows what tomorrow holds. Like they say, “Between the doctor and the patient, no one knows who will die first“. Let’s give tomorrow a fighting chance with what we do today. A beggar on the street today may be a philanthropist tomorrow. Take the case of Abel Pacheco, in one moment he had a stroke and in the next, he was President of Costa Rica (2002-2006). How did that come about? One woman – Cindy Jacobs – chose to show him love and prophesied his rise to the presidency even though he appeared to have one foot in the grave. With love, there is hope for a better tomorrow.

Love is not weak, it takes strength to give to strangers and to forgive our enemies. No weak person can do that. To forget the hurts, to overcome the pain and say ‘I forgive you’. If it was easy, it wouldn’t be so costly. If it was weak, this virtue would not be so rare. Love is not blind as the world has presumed, love gives foresight into what a ‘nobody’ can become.

We know we have begun to love when we respect the opposition. When we don’t see the competition as an adversary but simply as a colleague on the same journey and as motivation/challenge to do better. Ultimately, love is truly expressed when we can forgive our enemies.

If you are wondering where this kind of love is possible, the answer is in Jesus. He alone can teach us to love, to forgive. Not until we quit trying to seize control, do we begin to see things fall into place. It is at that point of absolute surrender that we realise that power never really gives anyone control, only the illusion of control. Only God in Christ Jesus has control of all situations. That’s why He is God. In the end, we all discover that to have all things fall into place is much better than having ‘control’.

Let’s spread the word of Jesus, let’s show each other love. It is only by doing this that all men would know…

-Adams Allison.