Read: Mark 10:35–45 (NLT)

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2 NLT)

When I heard that the Rev. Adam Hamilton was running for the United States Senate, I found myself holding admiration and concern together. I have respected his ministry for years. He has helped many people encounter Jesus, wrestle honestly with Scripture, and discover a thoughtful expression of United Methodist Christianity. As a fellow ordained elder, I recognize the calling we share, even though our ministries have unfolded on very different scales. Now he is the senator-elect from Kansas, and the questions I carried through his campaign have become considerably more urgent.

Watching NBC News, I saw Rahm Emanuel’s excitement as he discussed Hamilton’s victory. In the coverage I watched, the celebration centered on a Democrat winning in Kansas and what that meant for political power. I can appreciate the hope people see in his victory. Yet I also noticed the different expectations gathering around it. Hamilton may understand his next chapter as an expression of Christian service. The political world welcoming him has its own expectations of what his victory will deliver.

Hamilton has every right to seek public office, and I believe his desire to serve is sincere. Now, however, the campaigning gives way to a harder question: now what? What happens when Christian discipleship encounters the obligations, incentives, and competing loyalties of governing power?

That question belongs to every Christian. Hamilton’s pastoral role gives it particular weight because pastors help others understand what faithful witness looks like. But the concern reaches well beyond clergy. Whenever we seek influence, support a candidate, or celebrate a political victory, we should examine what we expect power to accomplish and what we are willing to accept along the way.

James and John approach Jesus seeking places beside him in glory. They have followed him, learned from him, and witnessed his ministry. Still, their expectations reflect a world in which greatness means occupying the seats nearest the center of power.

Jesus asks whether they can share his cup and baptism. They confidently say they can. But the road ahead leads through suffering and the cross. They are asking for positions whose meaning they do not yet understand.

When the other disciples become angry, Jesus gathers them all. He describes rulers who dominate others and leaders who wield authority over them. Then he insists that his followers must practice a different kind of leadership. Greatness among them takes the shape of service. Jesus grounds that teaching in his own life, given for others.

These disciples already love Jesus. Their devotion has not prevented them from misunderstanding power. That should unsettle those of us who assume sincere faith will keep our ambitions in check.

Christians have responsibilities within society. We should care about laws, public decisions, and the neighbors whose lives they affect. Voting, advocacy, and public service can express that care. Withdrawal can leave vulnerable people facing injustice without our help.

Yet responsible participation does not make acquiring political office the mission Jesus entrusted to his followers. His ministry proclaimed and embodied God’s reign, called people into discipleship, and led him into confrontation with powers that ultimately crucified him. The promise of resurrection places our hope beyond what those powers can grant.

Paul likewise calls believers to live faithfully within their circumstances, attending to how their conduct bears witness to Christ. That instruction does not establish a universal mandate to seek governing office. Neither does it establish a universal prohibition. It leaves us with the demanding work of discernment: will this pursuit help us embody Christ’s way, and what will happen when the role requires something our discipleship cannot permit?

We cannot answer merely by listing the good we hope to accomplish.

Government involves negotiation. An incomplete agreement can bring real relief to people who cannot wait for perfect conditions. But some compromises teach us to excuse what we once recognized as wrong. How do we distinguish patient service from surrendering our convictions? Whose suffering becomes acceptable when keeping influence takes priority?

A new senator will need guidance from people who understand the institution. Those relationships may provide wisdom. They may also teach a newcomer which questions to stop asking and which injustices to tolerate. Political allies can welcome someone’s faith while expecting loyalty when that faith becomes inconvenient.

The rewards matter too. Salary, health coverage, retirement benefits, access, and public standing provide security while others struggle to afford groceries or medical care. Receiving compensation for service carries responsibility. It also gives us something personal to lose. Will we challenge arrangements that protect our comfort while leaving our neighbors exposed?

These questions reach those of us watching from home. Will we hold a politician we admire accountable? Will we excuse conduct from an ally that we condemn in an opponent? When someone bearing Christ’s name wins an election, do we begin treating their success as evidence that God approves their decisions?

Paul’s appeal in Romans 12 calls us toward continuing transformation. In response to God’s mercy, we offer our lives to God and resist conformity to the present age. Discernment requires renewed minds, humility, and a community in which we remain responsible to one another. An initial conviction that God called us somewhere cannot exempt our conduct there from examination.

Hamilton’s ministry helped establish the trust he now carries into public office. As a fellow elder, I care about what his example will teach. I hope he serves faithfully, protects vulnerable people, and remains open to correction. I also hope we resist making him carry expectations that no Christian politician can fulfill.

The same examination belongs in our congregations, workplaces, and homes. We can protect institutions at people’s expense. We can confuse security with faithfulness. We can become so invested in our ability to accomplish good that we stop examining what preserving that ability requires.

Human government can accomplish meaningful good. Our ultimate hope rests in God’s reign. Wherever we serve, people should encounter something of Jesus in how we treat them, especially when doing so costs us.

We may enter believing we will change the system. Who will help us recognize when the system is changing us? And when following Jesus puts our position at risk, will we still follow?

Those questions lead me to prayer. Adam Hamilton will have to walk a very fine line, and I do not imagine I could navigate it easily. Knowing myself, I suspect I would speak my convictions plainly and discover rather quickly how much influence that cost me. I recognize the difficulty of what he is undertaking, and I sincerely want him to remain faithful.

So I ask you to pray for Adam Hamilton. Pray that he serves his country faithfully while keeping his allegiance to Jesus Christ at the center of his life. Pray that he becomes a magnificent witness to Jesus through his decisions, his relationships, his treatment of vulnerable people, and his willingness to tell the truth when silence would be more convenient.

I believe that is possible through the grace of God. Without that grace, it is impossible. Neither a distinguished pastoral record nor strength of character can substitute for our continuing dependence on God. He will need grace to discern, grace to resist, grace to repent, and grace to surrender whatever faithfulness requires him to surrender.

May we pray for him with sincere hope, remain willing to hold him accountable, and receive the same searching grace in our own lives.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Faithful witness depends on God’s grace at every step, especially when power gives us reasons to stop following.

PRAYER
God, surround Adam Hamilton with your grace as he prepares to serve. Give him wisdom to serve his country faithfully, courage to remain loyal to Jesus, and humility to receive correction. May his life and work bear a magnificent witness to Christ. Keep all of us dependent on your grace and willing to follow wherever you lead. Amen.