By: Tania Harris
God is up to something in our world. Have you noticed?
Every day the headlines bring another exposure: hidden abuse, financial corruption, and insidious cover-ups. Sin is being uncovered across the globe, and we are confronted almost daily with humanity’s frailty.
The Epstein files are one recent example. Politicians, business leaders and members of royalty have been named in connection with the abuse of young women and children. Where wealth and status once offered a shield from scrutiny, perpetrators are now being called to account.
We saw it in the #MeToo movement — a tidal wave of women courageously naming abuse by powerful men. Entire systems of entrenched misogyny are now beginning to crumble.
We’ve seen it in the exposure of institutional child sexual abuse. In Australia, the 2013 Royal Commission revealed horrific patterns of systemic failure, with trauma still reverberating through families and generations.
We’ve seen it with the violent mistreatment of indigenous peoples in our colonial past. In Australia we’ve realised that as we’ve studied the travesties in Europe, we’ve omitted the atrocities against the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our own land.
We’ve even seen it in the Church. Pastors and leaders who once enjoyed global accolades have suddenly been exposed for abusing wealth and position in the name of God.
It’s shocking. It’s humiliating. It’s ugly. Our trust in leadership has been broken, our role models smashed. We’ve found ourselves disillusioned by the disturbing mismatch between public image and the private character of those we once looked up to.
But in the midst of the darkness, can you see the Holy Spirit at work?
The Holy Spirit is a Truth Teller
Jesus said that one of the roles of the Spirit is to convict us of sin and lead us into truth (John 16:3,8). The Holy Spirit is a truth-teller, exposing lies and deceit so that freedom can be found. The author of Hebrews describes the Spirit’s revelation as a “double-edged sword.” Piercingly accurate, it separates truth from the false, penetrating our thoughts and attitudes so that everything is “uncovered and laid bare.” (Heb. 4:12,13) Truth-telling is a work of God.
For all the grief of exposure, there is an upside.
The sins now being uncovered are not new. Adultery, hypocrisy, abuse of power and exploitation of the vulnerable are age-old symptoms of the human condition. What is new is the willingness to confront them. For generations, society has looked the other way. We’ve denied, deflected and protected the status quo. Leaders in the media, business, politics and the church have all been complicit.
But now, we’re opening our eyes and having the courage to see it.
For it does take courage… to keep the lights on when we want to close our eyes. To sit with the ugliness of sin instead of reaching for fig leaves. No wonder we deny it, deflect it and cover it up. We’d rather walk on by, circle round the pretence and maintain the status quo. We all do it. Who wants the toxicity of our hearts to be seen? Who wants the masks of pretence to be removed? Like the accused standing in the dock, we hang our heads, pick up fig leaves and cover our shame. Yet, the Spirit comes like fire, seeking to burn away what is false (Heb. 12:29) – not to destroy but to purify.
The Gift of Truth
We must not miss this moment. For without truth, there can be no grace.
Indeed, truth is a gift of God – first for the victims; for the protection and the healing of the women, the children, the indigenous, the poor and the vulnerable. Trauma cannot be fully healed without first being acknowledged.
But truth is also a gift for the perpetrators; for the freedom and redemption of the Epsteins, the abusers and those confined to prison cells. Restoration cannot be received where sin is denied. God’s conviction is not condemnation; it is an invitation to freedom (John 8:32).
This is the ultimate aim of our sovereign Truth-teller – freedom through grace.
What About Us?
As we watch truth surface at a societal level, we must ask what God is doing within us.
Macro exposure invites micro reflection. As we witness truth-telling around us, we’re invited to see it in our own hearts. We must take the log out of our own eye even as we see the speck in others (Matt. 7:3). Where is the Holy Spirit shining a light in my own heart? Where is God inviting deeper honesty?
It may not be as serious as an extra-marital affair or criminal activity. It may simply be that subtle exaggeration, a quiet resentment, a sideways comment, the need to protect image, the instinct to hide weakness. The same Spirit exposing corruption in systems uncovers hidden motives within us.
As we read the headlines, can we also read our hearts? This cultural moment is not only a reckoning; it is an invitation. Truth sets us free – but only if we are willing to see it.
Article supplied with thanks to God Conversations.
About the Author: Tania Harris is a pastor, speaker, author and the founder of God Conversations.
Feature image: Canva
