I have believed that everyone wants love. But I’ve realized recently that there is a second type of person — the person who wants power.

This person may say they want love, but it becomes clear they don’t by how they serve (or don’t serve others). The person who claims to want love but is actually looking for power is more interested in not being taken advantage of, creating boundaries, and pursuing personal happiness. Such people will talk against the sins of “people pleasing” when really they don’t want to respect others. Such people are never wrong about anything, are perpetual victims, or believe they are always misunderstood. In order to win people to their side they will lament how they weren’t loved properly as a child. But they aren’t looking for healing (or love), but grabbing at other people’s heartstrings in order to have leverage over them.

I would say that people don’t necessarily fit neatly in one or the other category. There is a war inside between love and power, between God and the Devil. Recognizing this, though, can perhaps help us spurn desire for power. It is better to be used, to become vulnerable, to be open to the pains and sufferings of life to find ourselves closed off to love.