Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone. Thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch. And in today's episode, we're talking about how Congress is old, and we're asking the question, why do we have selfish leaders? This is prompted by a very interesting op ed piece in the Washington Post this week by former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels.

And he's talking about how increasingly congressmen and congresswomen, senators alike, are staying in office, at least in his opinion, far too long. It's becoming a home for the elderly. Let me give you some stats to back that up. The median age of the United States Congress at present is 64.7 years. That is the oldest it has ever been in history.

Congress is older than it's ever been. Now you might say, well, hey. What's the problem with that? Older people have a lot of life experience, a lot of wisdom. I'm sure that's how it is in countries around the world, but you'd be wrong.

Actually, the median age of Congress is the highest of any legislative body in the world. Even a country like Japan, this is a great example that mister Daniels makes, is that in Japan, we think of Japanese culture as venerating the elderly, and they do. They honor the elderly. But even in Japan, the average age of their parliament is 55. In Israel, it's 52.

In The United Kingdom, it's 46. In other words, our leaders stay longer than everyone else's. They're older than everyone else. Now why is this a problem? Well, at least according to governor Daniels, the problem is that young leaders are more equipped to meet modern challenges.

Technology is changing incredibly quickly. We need to think about long term solutions, and that makes more sense for leaders who are gonna live through those long term decisions and who understand the rapidly changing landscape of our world. It's also true that some of the problems, not all, but some of them we have, were created by the very leaders who are still in office. Think, for example, about the national debt. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois just retired after forty four years of service.

In forty four years of the senate, he has watched the debt go astronomically higher than it was forty four years ago. Well, that's like giving someone your access to your financial account, letting them run you into debt for forty four years, and deciding the wisest course of action is giving them one more year to lead your finances. It's absurd. The problems we have point to the need for a new wave of leaders. But here's what I wanna talk about.

This problem really, again, fundamentally is spiritual. The reason our leaders stay on is because we've gotten some things terribly wrong, and we need a reset towards biblical principles. Like, for example, servant leadership. Leadership, at least according to Jesus and Matthew chapter 20, is about what you do for others, not about what's done for you. Every time a politician gets elected, he should heed the words of Jesus, he or she, and ask, why will and tell themselves, I will only run for office my next term if I legitimately believe that is the best way for people to be served.

The truth is our congressmen and women profit incredibly, individually by serving in office. It increasingly feels like they stay in office for them, not for us. The Bible also affirms, like, for example, see Deuteronomy 31, that that true leadership is empowering future generations. In fact, that one of the primary tasks of each generation is developing and equipping the one after them to lead well. The Bible also tells us that pride and self centeredness, see Proverbs 16, lead to destruction.

The problem is when that pride and self centeredness is in leaders, it leads to comprehensive destruction, not just the destruction of their own lives. Increasingly, we need to see leaders be sacrificial, acknowledge when they are too out of touch, when their health has declined too much. When I see, like, for example, senator Mitch McConnell, recently looking on looking just so uncomfortably out of place at his age and mental acuity and serving in the United States senate, my heart breaks for him and for us because that is not leadership that is saying what is best for the people I serve. That is leadership holding on to what I have. And I'll just say this.

This is one of the primary ways that faith in Christ frees us. Because I think one of the reason leaders hold on is that when you retire from public service, you're just one step closer to the end of your life. The end of their career brings with it issues of mortality. But for the Christian, the end of this life is only the beginning of eternity. I don't have to find all my meaning and value and purpose in this life because I have an eternity to come, which means when I'm no longer the right answer to the question in the now, I'm not giving up any meaning and purpose.

I'm just giving up the meaning and purpose I found in that role. More and more, we need to move towards neighbor love, other centeredness, self sacrificial leadership. And you and I might not be able to change congress, but we can live that way in our own spheres of leadership. Congress, retire, pass the baton, let's get younger, and let's practice self sacrificial leadership. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up.

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