Happy 2016! Today, on New Year’s Day, I want to take you back in time — eight years to be precise — to hear a message from Chuck Colson.

Eight years ago on New Year’s Day, Chuck took to the airwaves to discuss the upcoming and all-consuming presidential election year. The dates are different, but the points Chuck makes about the state of our politics and the kind of candidate Christians should be considering are, well, as important today as they were in 2008. Here’s Chuck.

Good news. There are only 11 months left in the presidential campaign. Seriously, how should Christians approach the election and impact our culture in the year ahead?

If you’re like I am, your New Year’s resolutions seldom make it to the end of January. So rather than lay out resolutions today, I want to simply share some thoughts about the New Year—a year that will be dominated by this year’s presidential election.

The official kickoff is tomorrow, with the Iowa caucuses. I am almost relieved. It has been a long, tiresome campaign that began the night the 2006 election returns were coming in. I’m sure many of us are so tired of the perpetual campaigning that we’re tempted to think, Please let it be over, no matter what happens.

But that’s the wrong attitude. We have to care. In the Old Testament, God appointed leaders. But in modern democracies, we elect them. Therefore, we’re God’s agents in choosing God’s people. In a democracy, we get the government we deserve.

But I’m struck by the advice that Jethro gave Moses when his leadership burdens became too great. Select capable men—today we would say men and women—who fear God; trustworthy men who hate dishonest gains.

Two adjectives jump out at me—capable is the first, which means the person has to be able to do the job. That person might be a Christian or not. If you’re going to have brain surgery, you want the best surgeon, whether or not he goes to church. That’s why Luther said he would rather be governed by a competent Turk than an incompetent Christian.

But this year, the second adjective really leaps out at me—trustworthy. I don’t think there has ever been a time in American history when integrity counted for more.

Our political system has been corrupted by Democrats and Republicans alike. Trustworthy men who hate dishonest gains, as Jethro put it, wouldn’t engage in earmarking just to get reelected—pouring $60 billion into pet projects to pay off campaign donors and constituents.

I haven’t decided how I’m going to vote, and if I had, I wouldn’t say so. But I could get very excited about any candidate who could promise to clean up the cesspool that Washington has become—and who would have the courage to stand up to the special interests.

But no matter whom we elect, the country will not be governable unless people have a renewed sense of the common good. Christians of all people ought to understand this. Jesus came for the least, the last, and the lost. He cared about the prisoners and the blind. He cared deeply about the good of all people, and therefore, we should. St. Augustine said Christians ought to be the best citizens because we do what we do out of the love of God.

As I said on “BreakPoint” recently, too, we need to take stock of ourselves. I believe Christians these days belong on our knees: repenting of our self-indulgence; repenting of going to church but not making any difference in our society; repenting of the fact we haven’t learned how to defend and live out our faith.

I’d like to say that the Church is a beacon of light to the culture today. But I’m afraid it’s kind of a dim light. If I were to make a New Year’s resolution, it would be to help Christians clean up our act so that we really are transformed and live in such a way that we transform the world around us—starting with the voting tomorrow.

It has happened before; why not now?

It’s great to hear from Chuck again. This is Eric Metaxas on behalf of John Stonestreet and all of us at the Colson Center, wishing you a healthy, happy New Year.

Next Steps

The Year Ahead: Politics, the Church, and the Common Good
Chuck so often reminded us, as he does in this commentary, that the Church’s best position, whether in an election year or not, is on her knees, praying that God will give us capable and trustworthy leaders, and praying that we also will live out those same virtues in our own lives.

Further Reading and Information

Reclaiming Occupied Territory: Christianity and the Cultural Mandate
Chuck Colson | BreakPoint.org | July 26, 2006

The Limitations of Politics
Jim Tonkowich | BreakPoint.org | June 7, 2006