The legislature convened this week, and I confess, I look at what is about to unfold in a whole new way. In the last few weeks, culminating with an insight last week. I have concluded that “Christian statesman, as I now define the term, would not describe my previous approach to law and politics. Today I show how that change affects what I believe a Christians statesman needs to know, and how that would affect such a statesman’s evaluation of an important piece of pending legislation.

As I signed a few hundred letters a week ago with a Christmas-themed postscript containing the word “joy,” I began to wonder, “What is joy? Is there an objective meaning to ‘joy’ that is not dependent on a person’s subjective circumstances?” My search exposed something about me I needed to know and knowing it filled the rest of my Christmas season with more joy.

Matt Wash exposed the fact that at least one major hospital in Tennessee is providing “gender affirming care” to minors, i.e., mutilating healthy parts of a child’s body, to change their appearance and ostensibly to address incongruities between their subjective mental states and objective physical realities. It dawned on me that how one views Christmas—whether it’s about Santa coming to town or the Son of God coming to Bethlehem—determines how one should think about such care.

Tuesday morning, I had a great sense of thanksgiving flood over me in the absolute strangest context. I was as mad as the proverbial wet hen with some people—good people—who have been grinding me down over the import to the work of God in His Church of Christians understanding the fundamentals of law and civil government. If you ever had reason to be frustrated over something or someone and giving thanks was the last thing on your mind, maybe today’s commentary will provide some help.

I spent most of my first 22 years in Southern Baptist Churches. Thereafter, I have been joined to other protestant churches. So, when sexual wrongs—dare we call them sins anymore? —and their cover up were exposed within the ranks of those in Southern Baptist pulpits and the Southern Baptist Convention’s leadership, I could say to myself and others, “I’m not Southern Baptist.” But my thoughts of non-culpability went beyond denominational lines, and it was good that they did. I saw myself with clearer eyes.

Many Christians today seem intent either on preserving the United States or making it great again, depending on how they view its current condition. But what must be preserved or recovered if they are to succeed? The upcoming legislative session will reveal what we think it is.