By Menno van Hulst, Executive Director ChristenUnie (NL)

It is part of a Christian’s lifestyle to be humble, live by the grace of God and thus give praise to Him and not ourselves. If we achieve remarkable results we do (like Paul) not pride one another, but He who gave us this blessing. Our right-hand does not have to know the wonderful work of our left-hand and is even suffering from memory-loss concerning its own performances.

But if you want to be successful in politics, you need to deal with things differently. It is not only important that a law is amended for the good. It is just as important that the media is aware of the ones that got these results. You should not only be a good governor, you should also get the credits for it from the voters. The attitude of willing to “be the least” is a good biblical principle but does not function as an effective political strategy. After all, if your achievements are unnoticed by the media and by the people, you will not get re-elected. And if you’re not re-elected, you cannot continue achieving even more for your society in the next term. Having a big “ego” seems to be indispensable for survival in politics. That’s why politics often attracts a disproportional amount of machos (male or female).

What to do? Refrain from being a macho and stay away from politics? Leaving the “dirty political game” to followers of a different god than ours? Many Christians are inclined to do so. In their view, politics is by definition a bad business ran by powerhungry and moneythirsty crooks.

However, I would plead for the opposite approach. Especially as Christians we have a responsibility to be wise stewards of this earth and to contribute to our societies. I do plead for an awareness of the existing tensions between the rules of the political game and the following of Jesus Christ. I wish all politicians a “mirror” for regular personal reflection. This can be mutual reflection, but also in “job evaluations” of politicians by his or her family member. A mirror can help to locate and evade pitfalls and to regain the balance in the exiting realm of Christian politics.

When we are fully aware of these tensions, and deal with them in the right way, we can be wholeheartedly Christian in politics. A list of achievements will then become a list of blessings and Christian politicians will not act like macho’s but act as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16).