Don’t take my word for it – read Joe’s article yourself! 🙂 Here is an excerpt:

How can I be a Christian for over three decades (since the age of six) and still be such a jerk? The only response I can give is that if I wasn’t a Christian I’d be much, much worse. As Evelyn Waugh–another Christian who recognized he was a nasty chap–once said, “If not for my faith I would be barely human.”

While true, that answer seems a bit of a cop-out. I don’t like being a jerk and I don’t like making excuses for my nasty behavior. So I attempt to be nicer, more likable. I pretend to be genial and gregarious in the hope that I’ll eventually become less of a jerk.

But it doesn’t work. The more I pose and pretend that I’m something I’m not, the more I appear to be a hypocritical jerk.

The main problem is that I go about it all wrong. Instead of trying to be more likable I should focus on being more loving.

He follows with a great quote from C. S. Lewis on the difference between loving our neighbors and liking or affection.

I can relate to Joe’s post. Give me enough time and exposure, and I will be sure to let you down. Do you ever feel like you’re a jerk, that it is just a matter of time until people discover the real you? Thank God for his grace, and pray for other people’s!

Here are three freedoms from sin that all Christians share:

1) Freedom from the penalty of sin. This freedom is rooted in the Christian’s past and relates to the believer’s justification. The penalty for sin is death, both physical death and spiritual death (i.e. separation from God). When we put our faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sin, however, we were justified – that is, declared righteous in God’s sight by faith. We were thus freed from the penalty for sin and granted new life with God. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

2) Freedom from the power of sin. This freedom is operational in the Christian’s present and relates to the believer’s sanctification. Before we come to Christ, we are dead in transgressions and sins and are in fact slaves to sin. When we receive new life in Christ, however, we are sanctified – that is, set apart for God and holiness rather than for sin and death. We are thus set free from the power of sin and through the Holy Spirit are given the ability to live a holy life. “When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” (Romans 6:20-22)

3) Freedom from the presence of sin. This freedom will be fulfilled in the Christian’s future and relates to the believer’s glorification. Although we may be free from the power of sin in the present, we still struggle with a sinful nature in the midst of a sinful world. When we enter God’s presence in heaven, however, we will be glorified – that is, changed to be like Jesus Christ in true righteousness and placed in a perfect environment of righteousness and holiness. We will thus be free from the presence of sin both within us and around us. “Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” (Philippians 3:20-21)

Praise God for the freedoms we share as believers in Jesus Christ!

John Piper explores the question, “Is it ever right to lie?” After affirming that the Scriptures clearly present lying and falsehood as sin, Piper reviews the lies that the Hebrew midwives told to Pharoah in Exodus 1 and that Rahab told to the king’s men in Joshua 2. He notes that both the midwives and Rahab were faced with extreme, life-threatening situations. He also notes that, although the midwives were commended for not obeying the king, and Rahab was commended for her faith, Scripture nowhere condones their actual instances of lying. And yet neither does Scripture come right out and condemn their lying in these specific instances either.

Rather than give a direct “yes” or “no” answer to the question, Piper concludes:

“What I’ve simply decided to say is this: There are worthy and godly saints who have in their struggle with evil felt constrained to lie in order to oppose life-threatening wickedness. And they were not condemned for it. That much I can say on the authority of Scripture.”

I remember first being exposed to this difficult question when seeing the film, “The Hiding Place.” The specific situation faced there was, “Should Corrie Ten Boom (or was it Betsy?) have told the Nazi soldiers that they were hiding Jews in the home?” What are your thoughts on this? Scripturally, is it ever right to lie?