Exposition

Religion and governance have always been inextricably linked throughout history. As Christians, we have an active role to play for good governance to be evident in our society. God is concerned about governance because even the righteous would suffer the effects of governance on society.

Governance has been broadly defined as the exercise of power in the management of a country’s economic and social development. The UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) describes good governance as, among other things, governance based on participation, transparency, accountability, effectiveness, equity and the rule of law. Good governance is said to be good management of the economy commensurate with an increasing standard of living for its people. Anything below this cannot be classified as good governance. Bad governance on the other hand would entail oppressive systems, corruption, ineffective systems and structures, and instability among others.

With this in mind, we must not dissociate ourselves from ensuring and contributing to good governance in our society. Christians who refuse to allow God to use them to accomplish this goal are shirking their Christian responsibilities.

Our memory verse for the week admonishes that we should be ready for every good work. Doing good and seizing every opportunity to do good is the believer’s responsibility as we have been created for good works. In that case, we must be ready always to contribute toward good governance in our society.