As Singaporeans cast their votes on 10 July, how should Christians vote? The Bible gives us an important guideline: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people” (Prov 14:34). That which prospers a nation are not only capable, experienced, and highly qualified leaders. God’s Word tells us the critical factor is righteousness. That is, doing what is right in the eyes of God, including justice, compassion, honesty, being ethical, et cetera. In short, only when leaders lead the nation and craft policies that honour God will a nation be exalted. The contrary is true: if the leaders of a nation resort to ways that are sinful or unethical, that nation will fall and people of that nation will suffer, because “sin condemns any people.”
As we cast our votes, we inspect a candidate’s credentials. As Christians informed by God’s Word, we also need to inspect, first, that candidate’s character. The character will be shown by his or her past conduct in school, at work, and in his dealings with people around him or her. Of course, everyone makes mistakes and needs to be given a second chance. The point, however, remains: Do we have good reasons to believe that this person’s character is ethical? This criterion of a tested ethical character is far more important than his or her academic qualifications. A person’s ethical character is also far more important than his or her capabilities. Of course, we would not vote for someone who simply does not have the ability to govern a nation well. But first, he or she must satisfy the character criterion.
We thank God that for the past many years, God has given us not only a very capable government. We have leaders who care for the people and who maintain high ethical standards. May he continue to give us such leaders. On our part as Christians, we owe it to our nation’s leaders to pray for them, especially our Prime Minister and his cabinet ministers. We pray the Lord will give them good health, wisdom, and a heart that loves the people of Singapore. Above all, Christians must pray as Paul urges us,
1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:1-4).
We pray that our nation’s leaders will craft out policies that allow Christians to live godly lives and to prosper the preaching of the gospel to save souls. This is important because it is only when people know Jesus as Lord and Saviour that they are truly blessed, because they are blessed with eternal life. May the Lord cause righteousness to be exalted in this country so that her people may be blessed.