I’ve had Jerry Bridges’ Respectable Sins sitting unfinished on my book shelf for a couple years now.It’s a helpful book that could be used to help those who have been believers for awhile expose and root out those sins which are often lingering under the surface.
In one chapter Bridges gives seven directions for dealing with sin when it is brought to our attention. I found these helpful. Some of them are word for word, others I’ve tweaked a bit for better memorization.
- We should always address our sin in the context of the gospel. We must always start with the truth that in Christ our sin is forgiven and we stand in His righteousness and not our own.
- We must learn to rely on the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.
- As we depend on the Spirit we must also recognize our responsibility and diligently pursue practice steps to deal with our sin.
- We must identify specific areas of acceptable sins. Sin is specific and it’s helpful for us to deal in specificity and not generality.
- We should bring to bear specific applicable Scriptures to each of our subtle sins.
- Cultivate the practice of prayer over the sins we tolerate.
- Involve one or a few other believers with you.
If you’re looking for a helpful book to discuss with a discipleship group this is one which I would highly recommend.
