Encouragement in the fight of faith

Yesterday, I read the following paragraph from the Introduction to John Piper’s newest book, Finally Alive: What Happens When We Are Born Again, and found it tremendously encouraging:

Nevertheless…I will distance myself from perfectionism. In other words, I don’t think that the new birth makes us perfect in this life. Sin remains, and the fight of faith is a daily necessity. Some unbelievers look like better people than some believers. But that is because some pretty bad people have been born again, and the process of transformation is not always as fast as we would like.

Dear Christian, maybe you, like me, are not where you want to be in the process of transformation, but think of where you would be if God had not saved you. By the grace of God, we’re a far cry from what we could have been. I encourage you to take heart at the evidences of grace that you do see in your life, and keep up the fight of faith. God has not given up on you and me.

And, get a couple copies of Finally Alive: one to read, and another to share with someone else.