Review: Respectable Sins

Respectable Sins
Jerry Bridges

This book is an interesting mix. The first part of the book discusses the idea of respectable sins, and how Christians all too often allow the major sins rule in our lives.I found many sections in the first section of the book quite helpful. For instance:

Contrary to what we normally think, ungodliness and wickedness are not the same. A person may be a nice, respectable citizen and still be an ungodly person.

Exactly! After this section, the author moves into discussing specific sins, and how we can combat each one. A lot of people might find this part of the book very useful, but as I read through it, I just kept thinking, all this focus on sins, and none on God. The author applies such techniques as memorizing verses to handle specific sins, and thinking in certain ways to try and overcome certain attitudes. It’s all interesting, I just don’t know that I would go down this road at all. The key, I think, is to focus on God, and not on ourselves, or on our sins, at all. To learn the promises of God, and to live as if they are real, rather than to try and battle out each sin through Scripture memorization and other techniques.

So, a mixed bag here. It’s worth reading the first part, but I didn’t see a ton of value in the second.