Christianity has sometimes made a difference by surrounding the use of power with humility. Yet although such occasions are the most completely Christlike, they only rarely feature in the kind of history that gets written up in the most noticed books. One of the most remarkable of those signs has been the recurring ability of the Christian faith to act against the normal ways of the world in the exercise of power. Throughout Western history, power has been a far more potent narcotic than the multitude of physical means that humans have used to get high.
Power feeds on itself.
It is never satisfied. It is almost never relinquished voluntarily. Power nurtures the idolatry of self. It turns those in its vicinity into sycophants. It thrives in environments that stifle the fruit of the Spirit.