Messaging bombards us during this election season. U.S. presidential candidates compete for the ultimate prize—the most powerful office in this country and arguably the world. Every politician vows to bless us when they exercise power, but savvy voters know such talk rarely lives up to the hype.

Talk and power go together, among politicians and business leaders and preachers. But it’s surface level chatter, like dead leaves skittering across a sidewalk. Deeper power abides.

The Apostle Paul wrote to a community of believers struggling with concepts of authority. He said, the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

A pulsing force underlies all human life. Although I might speak of such power, I cannot talk my way into receiving it. Only by welcoming the kingdom of God, by following the precepts handed to us by the Lord, might kingdom power emerge.

We do not vote in a leader to hold this power. God bestows it on the deserving, who tend to be humble men and women living out kingdom principles day after day.

Powerful people indeed walk among us, they just don’t happen to be elected politicians or yacht-driving moguls. These disciples sink roots into the soil of the kingdom and become conduits of God’s power on this earth. Thank the Lord for such quietly influential souls, for they make our world a place worth living.

1 Corinthians 4 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Andraz Lazic