We Can Be Like God

Having kids means you watch a lot of kid’s movies over the years. Some of them are awful, but there are some really great ones in there. One of my absolute favorites has to be the Emperor’s New Groove. If you’ve never seen this movie, you have to make the time to watch it. There are very few children’s flicks that crack me up like this one. The movie is based in Peru, of all places, and is the story of a young emperor named Kuzco.

The movie kicks off with Kuzco as a llama telling the story of how he has been wronged and mistreated. We then cut to a song that shows Kuzco’s true colors. He’s all about himself. Basically, he loves him some him. His lust for power is so insane that he mistreats everyone in his path. This leads to him bringing in a local llama farmer named Pacha. Kuzco asks Pacha where the best view on the mountain is. Pacha shows him where it is; right where Pacha lives. Kuzco then declares that this is where he will build his personal getaway complete with a water slide. When Pacha asks what he and his family are supposed to do, Kuzco just blows him off and declares that he doesn’t care. Pacha is sent off dejected and trying to figure out what’s next.

Shortly after this encounter, Kuzco is invited to the home of Yzma, his closest confidant for years. Earlier that day, Kuzco let Yzma know that she was being let go of her responsibilities and that her services were no longer needed. Unbeknownst to Kuzco, Yzma has been planning to poison him during the meal. Through a hilarious set of circumstances, Kuzco was never killed, and instead, he was turned into a llama, as Yzma’s personal guard, Kronk, used the wrong potion.

Why in the world are we talking about this movie? What does a Disney cartoon from 2000 have to do with anything? It’s actually pretty simple. Power corrupts, and the lust for power turns that corruption up to eleven. Whether it’s through politics, in the corporate landscape, or even in the Church, this desire to have control over others can be intoxicating for so many, and it can lead to others you know turning on you.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”
Matthew 16:24–26

Since the dawn of man, we have wanted power. As far back as Eden, we see the serpent using Eve to convince Adam to eat from the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. 

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:4–5

The first temptation and sin in the Bible was based on being equal to God. As human beings, we don’t like thinking that anyone or anything is better than us. We do, however, like to hold ourselves higher than others. That pride then leads us to a need for power to have control over those who are of less worth. We are not God, but that very desire to be equal to Him has been around since before the earth. It was ultimately the downfall of Satan.

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’”
Isaiah 14:12–14

This lust for power has been the cause of wars and governmental coups. We’ve seen the powerful wield their power over those under them, only to be overthrown and destroyed. Even here in the United States, we are the result of people standing up against an authoritarian government leading us from another continent. Regardless of how it happens, the lust for power never ends well. 

The Lord is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land. O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
Psalm 10:16–18

The only power we should seek is the power of the Holy Spirit. That power in us has the ability to change hearts and minds. It leads and guides us to true freedom. 

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:17–18

We may never be God, but we can definitely be transformed into His image through His Holy Spirit, not through our lust for power.