When leaders are obsessed with power

The way things are going lately it’s like watching a chess game being played out by those obsessed with power. 

And like chess pieces they each have their strategic strengths. Some of the players, for instance, are like the queen in chess, the most powerful piece on the board, because they believe it’s by overwhelming military might and scary weapons that the game will be won.    

Others believe it’s not by might that you win, but by cunning. They’re the tricky knights on the board, because their ability to jump over other pieces on the board can catch even the most powerful by surprise. Globally, they can get the jump on the powerful, for instance, by promoting themselves as “saviours” of the people, so millions of people follow them willingly, rather than being forced to.   

For others, it’s not by might or cunning that you win, but by coming across as righteous. They’re the bishops on the board, who knock down the other players by virtue signalling all their faults. Castigate the powerful for their greed until they wilt in shame.  

But then there are the castles, or rooks, on the board, that build their castles in the air, their fantasy new world order that captures the imagination of leaders who then impose this ludicrous ideology on their people by dismantling their nations’ history, culture and tradition piece by piece, and bringing in their fantasy utopian reset instead. 

And whether they’re doing this consciously or unconsciously, or with a conscience or without, is not for me to judge, but in their obsession for power all the players in the game make their tactics obvious, so that even the lowly among us can recognize them. And so we should, because we’re the little pawns on the chess board who have to bear the brunt of these people’s egos as they sacrifice and discard us in their play for power. 

But their obsession to win has also made them blind to one rather simple fact, that God “raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come,” Ephesians 1:20-21. 

Hey, fellas, we’ve already got a “king of the world” – and a king forever too – so it’s a rather pointless game you’re playing, isn’t it?