Tolerating Respectable Sins

 

…Or Respecting Tolerable Sins

For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.  Romans 7:18-20

 

Murder, adultery, lying, and stealing. These are sins. It’s hard to look at myself and consider the sin I commit every day. I know it’s there because the scripture tells me it is. I think I rationalize that I would rather look at someone else’s bad sin and ignore my own little, (in my own eyes) tolerable sins.

I have been reading Jerry Bridges book called, “Respectable Sins, Confronting the Sins We Tolerate,” in a small group Bible study.  He starts out talking about sin and its effects on us and our relationships, especially our relationship with God.  Then he hits his reader where it hurts. His first “respectable sins” are ungodliness and unthankfulness. He examines what it looks like when we fail to consider God and His goodness in every decision and as a part of every aspect of our lives.

He moves from these to anxiety, frustration, and discontentment. When Mr. Bridges  is done we see nothing respectable about any of them. He points out that we tolerate them in ourselves and in each other.

Our next lesson will deal with pride and selfishness, an area in which I struggle and always have.  He includes things like pride in our success, pointing out that we leave God out of it when we take credit for it. Sinful independence and being spiritually proud, as if we have no need to grapple with the scriptures because we already “get it” is prideful. He points out that God opposes the proud. (James 4:6)

We can be selfish with our time, money, and concern. We can be selfish and inconsiderate by being unconcerned about other’s time or what work we cause them.  The book challenges readers to pray for the Holy Spirit to show us evidence of our pride and selfishness and to use our family members as His agents!

As we started this book I was concerned that it would have us looking so far inward that we would see only our own personal piety. That week two women in the group talked about how the conviction from the week before had given them reason to consider the sovereignty and providence of God in their circumstances. These convictions led them to serve in one case and show compassion in another.

Jerry Bridges not only points out our “respectable sins,” he tells us why these sins they must confessed and repented of in our lives.

I was wrong about the increased personal piety (though that may should be a result of conviction).  Mr. Bridges clearly wants his readers to consider how their sin is keeping them from serving God and serving other people.

I recommend the book. If you read it, let me know what sins you tolerate in your life. I wonder if they are the same sins that I tolerate in mine.