By David Cranford “Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful things, not acting deceitfully or distorting the word of God, but commending ourselves before God to everyone’s conscience by an open display of the truth.” (2 Corinthians 4:2, CSB) I was reading a devotion today and I came across a phrase in 2 Corinthians 4:2: “an open display of the truth.” I had one of those aha! moments and immediately thought, “that’s exactly what our culture needs – an open display of the truth!” It seems to me, or maybe it is a bit of wishful thinking, that the truth hasn’t disappeared, it has just gone underground in our culture. We’ve become afraid of proclaiming it and standing for it. Extremists and their groups have become so good at attacking anyone who disagrees with their propaganda that we’re a bit paralyzed, even though truth is on our side. Goebbels would be so proud. While we may not openly proclaim and stand for the truth as we ought, we still hold to it in many of our congregations and homes, or at least I hope we do. The only thing fit for public consumption is lies, half-truths, and deception. I’m reminded of Isaiah 5:20: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and … [Read more...]