Throw your weight around.......

When you have power, it is easy to abuse it.  It is easy to use that power to get your own way, to make your life easier, to act out of pique or anger or frustration or greed.  It is easy.  Very easy.

Parents do it.  Teachers do it.  Police officers do it.  Pastors do it.  Bank managers do it.  IRS agents do it.  The clerk at the DMV does it.  The guy who is filling your order at some quick food restaurant does it.  You do it.  I do it.

It is very easy.

In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had the power to decide.  They could decide to believe the snake or they could decide to believe God.  The irony, of course, is that the two of them were seeking the power to tell right from wrong.  Such a good intention.  Such a bad outcome.

The disciples wanted to get the good seats when Jesus came into his kingdom.  They argued about it right up to the end.  But hear what Jesus had to say,

25 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 

26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 

27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-- 

28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."  Matthew 20

It's such a temptation.  To protect ourselves, our own, our needs, our wants by any means we have available.  The devil offered this temptation up to Jesus.  He offers it up to us daily. 

Unfortunately, we bite this apple way more often than we need to.