Power is a genuine paradox to believers. We love it and we hate it.We despise its evil and appreciate its good. We would like to do without it, but we know it is part and parcel of human life. Our ambivalence about power is resolved in the vow of service. Jesus picked up a basin and a towel and, in doing so, redefined the meaning and function of power. “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you” (John 13:14-15). In the everlasting kingdom of Christ, low is high, down is up, weak is strong, service is power. Do you sincerely want to engage in the ministry of power? Do you honestly want to be used of God to heal human hurts? Then learn to become a servant to all. “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35). The ministry of power functions through the ministry of the towel.

—Money, Sex, and Power