The Truth about Lies

I loved reading Tim Chaddick's The Truth About Lies. I was intrigued by the premise, that our character is shaped by how we respond to temptation day by day. He writes, "Every choice matters. Moments of temptation force us to make them. We must move beyond viewing temptation as a series of isolated events to a person-shaping process." Have you thought about temptation in that way before?

The book examines how Christ faced his wilderness temptations, and, how our own temptations--or testings--are opportunities for our faith to grow stronger, our understanding deeper.

Chaddick writes, "Temptation is a battle but its not just about winning or losing, its about discovering who you really are. And what you love most. This book is about how the gospel so transforms us that even moments of temptation become the training ground for a life of abundance as our hearts are radically reshaped and reordered by the love of Jesus for us. Because ultimately, the key to facing temptation is not a principle, it's a person."

Like Theological Fitness, Chaddick believes that Christians need to be trained, need to be made "fit" to live the Christian life. In other words, how we live matters, the choices we make matters even in a world that oh-so-thankfully has forgiveness and grace. (It isn't a world where you can say "God loves you" now go and do whatever you want.) He writes, "But Scripture is very clear, there is right and there is wrong, there are things that glorify God and things that grieve Him. There is truth and there are lies. Just because we have an appetite for something doesn't automatically mean you should indulge in it… Paul says we must be trained to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions."

I love the focus on the gospel. I love the focus on Jesus--who he is, what he's done, what he's doing. I love, love, love the focus on grace. This book is just full of rich truth, truth that should be celebrated and clung to every single day. This is a great book on an important subject: how to live the Christian life with hope and love, on how to say no to sin, and yes to God. I highly recommend this one!!!

Here's one of my favorite passages from the book:

"So often when dealing with the what of sin we don't deal with the why of sin, the motive and drive behind the other behavior. Add to that, we quickly forget the real power for change. The lies of sin blind us to the beauty of Christ. It's when we see both our sin for what it is and our Savior for who He is that we begin to experience radical change in the present."