Happenings 23 July 2020

It has been a wild week in Aotearoa, and not just in terms of the weather. The seedy side of political life has been exposed. The underbelly has been laid bare, and it ain’t pretty. Affairs, scandals, inappropriate behaviour have been in the spotlight and talkback radio has been running hot on the issue. The interesting thing for me as I have listened to comment and read opinion pieces is where people are landing on the question, “So what?” For some people, the fact that a member of parliament has behaved inappropriately in his private life has little bearing on whether he can perform his role capably in the leadership role he has been given. For others, they see that it does impact, but again in a purely functional way. To quote Chester Borrows, “The public will be thinking, ‘well if he’s prepared to lie to his wife, he will lie to us,’” i.e., the lack of trustworthiness will functionally diminish capacity to represent his electorate. But does leadership require good character alongside competency? What do you think? We are becoming an increasingly pragmatic culture where function is valued over integrity, but this only makes me love Jesus more! What a leader! He was someone who safely navigated all the snares and temptations of power while on earth because he lived according to two rules – firstly, love and honour God supremely; secondly, love and care for those around you deeply. All of us show leadership in different ways. May we be leaders who follow Jesus’ example, and may the contrast with the world’s form of leadership be all the greater for it!

In Him,
Murray