“…there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.” (Luke 8:17)
“We have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:2)
We live in interesting times. What has been hidden is being disclosed. What has been concealed is being made known. An ex-President is facing multiple lawsuits, an ex-Prime Minister has been sanctioned by Parliament, an ex-First Minister has been questioned under caution. Of course, the struggle for integrity is not only in the political realm. Recent news has covered the disgraced entrepreneur with a company once worth $9 billion, now convicted of fraud. The UN’s ‘Office on Drugs and Crime’ has published a 300-page ‘Global Report on Corruption in Sport.’ The UK’s ‘National Food Crime Unit’ (who knew such a thing even existed?!) is investigating large-scale fraud in the beef market with cheap imported South American meat sold in our supermarkets as prime British meat.
We live in challenging times. The scale of deception is global, let alone national. But it is also local, personal, and individual. Any and every regional news media carries daily stories of small-scale acts of fraud, of deceit, of theft, of breaches of trust, of dishonesty. Our challenge is to maintain a straight walk in a crooked world, to show kindness in a cruel world, to live a clean life in a dirty world, to set forth “the truth plainly” in a sea of lies. Are we up for the challenge? Praying we live for God in a way that commends us “to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.”