This Christian Life

What is Your “Ring of Power?”

At the spiritual center of the story is “the ring”—a gold ring that many want to possess, no matter what the cost. The dark secret of owning the ring and its power is that the power ultimately comes to own you. It is called by one of its owners, “The Precious”—demonstrating its perverse value to the one who has it. You cannot let go of it—even when it begins to destroy you. As it always does.

That imaginative image suggests a devastating reality that millions live on Real-Earth every day. There are life-pursuits that we believe will fulfill our dreams, answer our questions, and give us the spiritual power the human soul is hungry for. We want the power of whatever “ring” we feel compelled to pursue—someone who will love us, something we define as success, something that will relieve our pain, something that will make us feel significant. We all have our “Precious”—at least one, maybe many.

Sadly, our “Precious” ends up being less than we had hoped, but often something we cannot let go of. There are two words that ultimately define the essence of all our “Precious” pursuits—my way. But time after time, the road marked “My Way” has turned out to be a disappointment, a dead-end street. And all too often, the ring we have selfishly fought for has ended up hurting us and hurting people we love.

From THE RING, THE KING, AND HERALD ANGELS SING