I think that's what Luther was getting at when he made his oft misunderstood comment "Sin boldly, but praise God all the more boldly." Not that we should sin with confident self-righteousness, but that when we sin, we should make no pitiful attempts to cover it and come boldly before God. And when we experience His incredible, overwhelming love and forgiveness, that should inspire a praise that exceeds the bounds of any enthusiasm we thought ourselves capible of.

Another thing I have been thinking of lately, I wonder if the general "moral uprightness" that the Christian has is a healthy thing. There are a lot of "clean-nosed" churchmen out there who simply don't sin in any eggregious, visible sense because they have been well brought up well, or what have you.

But we know, of course, that they are not without sin, they are simply without any of its visible trappings. I wonder if it is not more difficult for them to accept grace and transforming power of God without the external enactement of the drama; tangibly experiencing the consequences of their sin and the depth of God's forgiveness...and I wonder if that is not the cause of pharasictical tendencies in so many of our brethren.