I’m almost ashamed to admit the inspiration for this devotional … You see, I have this vice … It began back in 1966 when the first series aired. I just couldn’t help it! That very first day, I became a hopeless Trekkie…

Oh I know what you’re thinking, and I’m thinking it too. Nonetheless, the Star Trek series had a huge impact on my young and very impressionable mind, and even today I occasionally rewatch some of those original shows with nostalgia.

The second episode ever of the original Star Trek series was entitled Charlie X. The story line went something like this: A star ship crashed onto a planet and all of its occupants were killed except for a 3 year old boy named Charlie. Being so young, there is no way this child could survive on a planet all by himself; but it turned out he wasn’t by himself. The planet was inhabited by very powerful beings. These beings couldn’t physically care for or interact with little Charlie, but they could do one thing for him: They could give him supernatural powers to help him survive. And survive he did, all alone, without any other human contact.

14 years later Charlie escaped the planet aboard a passing star ship. His idea was to find others like himself. The only problem was, Charlie had no social skills, and he had never learned how to get along with people. Beside this, he still possessed these ultimate powers that had been given to him as a child. As a result, Charlie couldn’t control his emotions, and every time someone — or something! — made him angry, he would destroy it. He melted an entire chess set because he lost a game of chess. He made crewmembers disappear simply because they laughed at him, and he destroyed an entire starship and its crew because they purportedly “didn’t like” him. Eventually he even took control of the starship Enterprise.

As I rewatched this old episode, the wisdom of the old adage, “absolute power corrupts absolutely”, became more and more evident, and I began to praise God that He did not give human beings absolute power.

It made me think, however. God Himself has absolute power. Jesus Himself said as much when He said, “…but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26 NIV). We also know that God gets angry. The first example of this in the Bible is recorded in Exodus 4:14a: “Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses…” (NIV). Yet unlike Charlie, God didn’t make Moses disappear. He didn’t melt Moses’ staff or destroy the ground Moses was standing on. In this example, as in all of the examples in the Bible where God’s anger burns hot, we see that absolute power does not have to corrupt absolutely!

So what is the primary difference between God and Charlie? Besides the fact that God truly is all powerful, and Charlie is but the figment of someone’s imagination, we see one huge difference: God loves us with a perfect love: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 NIV). The laws of love prohibit the kind of anger that Charlie showed, for: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-5 NIV).

Perhaps it isn’t absolute power that corrupts after all; but rather, absolute power in the absence of love!

Yes, a powerful being without love is not a force that any of us would like to contend with. When absolute love is added to the equation, however, then suddenly that absolute power can be used for good instead of for evil.

I’m so glad that I serve a God who is all powerful, but who uses His power to bring good instead of evil! I praise God that His absolute power is controlled by perfect love! And what a powerful combination that is! Praise God for being omnipotent and for loving us perfectly!

And even though none of us is omnipotent, especially the fictional Charlie, we all find ourselves occasionally in the position where we have power over someone or something. When this happens, let’s remember to not let it corrupt us; but rather, to let love rule so that we can use our power for good instead of evil!

Oh, and I thank God for not giving human beings absolute power!

Inspired by Rob Chaffart
Founder, Answers2Prayer Ministries