Top Ten Quotes: Respectable Sins
I’m a long-time fan of Jerry Bridges’ writings, but I’m rather late to the game on one of his classics, Respectable Sins.
It’s an arresting title for a reason: Bridges’ thesis is that we are so accustomed to certain sins (unthankfulness, pride, selfishness, anger, and the like) that we overlook them and don’t see the big deal about putting them to death. Not only does his book call them out, but he gives us practical steps for the battle.
Here are my top ten favorite quotes:
- [N]early every waking hour, we sin in thought, word, or deed. Even our best deeds are stained with impure (mixed) motives and imperfect performance.
- [T]he seemingly minor sins we tolerate in our lives do indeed deserve the curse of God.
- The acceptable sins are subtle in the sense that they deceive us into thinking they are not so bad, or not thinking of them as sins, or even worse, not even thinking about them at all!
- [M]y anxiety is triggered not so much by a distrust in God as by an unwillingness to submit to and cheerfully accept His agenda for me.
- I venture that of all the subtle sins we will address in this book, the pride of moral superiority may be the most common, second only to the sin of ungodliness.
- We can be very learned in our theology or very upright in our morality and yet fail to display the gracious qualities of Christian character that Paul called the fruit of the Spirit
- In the same way that a city without walls was vulnerable to an invading army, so a person without self-control is vulnerable to all kinds of temptations.
- Behind all of our gossip, slander, critical speech, insults, and sarcasm is our sinful heart. The tongue is only the instrument that reveals what’s in our hearts.
- We must realize that any given situation that tempts us to anger can drive us either to sinful anger or to Christ and His sanctifying power.
- May we be as severe with ourselves over our own subtle sins as we are with the vile sins we condemn in others.
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