Chaucer once said in reference to the low morals of the clergy of his day, “If gold rust, what should iron do?” Rusty saints—that’s one of the tragedies of our day. According to the Bible, saints are followers of Christ, not statues in a corner or exceptionally good people who have gone to heaven. There are too many Christians whose lives are tarnished by sin. Thus they rob the world of an example of what God can do in a person’s life and what their lives might become.
A writer once dedicated a book this way: “To J. Y. Simpson, who makes the best seem easily credible.” That’s what every Christian is to do. We must so live and conduct ourselves that others see life at its best. More than that, they see it as a possibility for themse...