The noonday devil of the Christian life is the temptation to lose the inner self while preserving the shell of edifying behavior. Suddenly I discover that I am ministering to AIDS victims to enhance my resume. I find I renounced ice cream for Lent to lose five excess pounds... I have fallen victim to what T.S. Eliot calls the greatest sin: to do the right thing for the wrong reason.

The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out (ed. Multnomah, 2008) - ISBN: 9781601422125