![\"Sasse\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/292\/2014\/11\/Sasse.jpg\")
<\/a>Let\u2019s be honest. If you hold to Judeo-Christian ethics, the last few years have not gone well. They have gone very badly indeed. We\u2019ve watched as the permanent things have taken hit after hit, blow after blow. We\u2019ve seen a tidal wave of change sweep over America. We\u2019ve felt helpless. We\u2019ve felt hopeless.<\/p>\nLast night, something extraordinary happened. As CNN reported<\/a>, in state after state, voters elected candidates to the U. S. Senate\u2013and several governorships\u2013who are meaningfully conservative on social issues. By all appearances, these candidates do not simply\u00a0shade\u00a0<\/em>conservative if you back them into a corner. They are outspoken about their pro-life convictions, they want to restore individual agency to the American people, and they believe the free market can again be an engine for personal uplift.<\/p>\n The young gun who has my attention is Ben Sasse, a 42-year-old conservative Lutheran from Nebraska. He\u2019s a Yale PhD who likes leadership\u2013he turned struggling Midland College around and has a knack for speaking in tones normal, non-wonkish people can understand. He was profiled\u2013I almost said bathed in a soft glow\u2013by the\u00a0Weekly Standard<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0National Review<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>not long ago.<\/p>\n I would expect a longform New York\u00a0Times <\/em>or\u00a0New Yorker\u00a0<\/em>profile soon; \u201cThe Paul Ryan of the Evangelical Politicos,\u201d or something like that (which he has the potential to be). Here\u2019s a shorter one<\/a> from the NYT that also profiles Tom Cotton, a cotton-farming Methodist and decorated military hero (The Atlantic<\/em> profiled him<\/a> at some length). These guys are down-to-earth, but they\u2019re both Harvard graduates. They like ideas, but they also like governance and leadership. Call me crazy, but I see this kind of candidate taking office, and I might begin\u2013against all the odds\u2013to feel a bit of hope, civic hope, public hope, in this fractured time.<\/p>\n I just wrote a book on Chuck Colson called\u00a0The Colson Way\u00a0<\/em>(Thomas Nelson, summer 2015). In the book, I tell Colson\u2019s story and offer a case for evangelical public-square involvement. The church is doing decently well in its ecclesial life, but it\u00a0has felt like there are few people out there who sense a call to what used to be labeled \u201cpublic service.\u201d Figures like Sasse and Cotton give me hope. Of course, we\u2019ll have to see how they and others conduct themselves in office. Evangelicals have learned, sometimes bitterly, to avoid the uncritical mistake of thinking that America, not the soon-coming new Jerusalem, is our home.<\/p>\n But let\u2019s be honest: in a Colsonesque way, we need to recognize that the narrative of this country is not etched in stone. It is\u00a0being written<\/em>. Right now. Before our eyes. The future is being carved and crafted. Leaders are stepping up. If you\u2019ve been writing\u00a0an epitaph for America, put the chisel down. Take off your safety glasses. Blink a few times. The clouds are thick, but there might be some sun peeking out. You don\u2019t want to miss it.<\/p>\n Do not misunderstand me:\u00a0we\u2019ve witnessed a torrent of deleterious cultural change in our day. I don\u2019t think America is on a good trajectory, frankly. There is much out there to discourage us. There is real human suffering that will happen because of legislation and decisions enshrined as law just days prior to this one. I have no idea what the future of this country is. I don\u2019t think anyone does, left or right.<\/p>\n What is clear to me is that Christians cannot make the mistake of thinking that our future is written. We cannot buy the line that America is on a linear course. I\u2019m not sure we are. I think in days ahead, as best I can see, we\u2019ll suffer some major losses, and we might witness some serious gains. This isn\u2019t a rumbling in my stomach, a shiver going up my leg. It\u2019s verifiable<\/a>. The pro-life movement has made serious headway in America. Cory Gardner<\/a> just beat a shockingly pro-abortion candidate in Colorado who made the issue central in the campaign. As evangelicals, we\u2019re not where we want to be\u2013but we\u2019re far from where we started after Roe v. Wade<\/em>, right?<\/p>\n This momentum\u2013and it is real momentum\u2013has come because Christians have kept going. They haven\u2019t bought a narrative. They haven\u2019t fallen prey to despair. They have worked. They kept their nose to the ground. The whole movement has been couched in hope.\u00a0Pro-life.\u00a0<\/em>There is a profound lesson there that we cannot miss. Much as we might weary of contending for the permanent things, we do not contend out of anger. We do so out of love for our neighbor, love that means more than baking cookies (Matthew 22:37). It means getting our hands dirty in the public square on behalf of others.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll say it again: I have no idea where things go from here. We can hope, however, that the sea-change in American political leadership will not mean the standard round of unmet expectations. We can hope that abortion will be ended in our lifetime, as I believe it will. We can hope that the family will be strengthened in days ahead (the natural family, that is). We can hope that religious liberty will continue to exist.<\/p>\n We can also hope that Christians will awaken to the incredible blessings they enjoy in this country. After all, we are\u00a0not a movement of despair. God is reigning, and he loves nothing more than to surprise us with showers of grace where we expected only famine.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let\u2019s be honest. If you hold to Judeo-Christian ethics, the last few years have not gone well. They have gone very badly indeed. We\u2019ve watched as the permanent things have taken hit after hit, blow after blow. We\u2019ve seen a tidal wave of change sweep over America. We\u2019ve felt helpless. We\u2019ve felt hopeless. Last night, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95,257],"tags":[3720,2279,13236,3721,3722],"class_list":["post-6093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cultural-engagement","category-politics","tag-ben-sasse","tag-paul-ryan","tag-politics","tag-tom-cotton","tag-us-senate"],"yoast_head":"\n