Book Review: "Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate" by Jerry Bridges

I started this book about two years ago with two close friends for the purposes of discussion, accountability, and holiness. Because of many outside factors, I was only able to read the first two chapters during our time. I was able to pick this book up last month and finally finish it. 


What I Liked: This book is true to its title. It is confrontational, pulls no punches, and in a sense rebukes much like is described in 2 Tim 3:16. I think this book is timely, well-structured, and has teeth to it. I thought the list of sins we respect was apt, but for me the most memorable chapters dealt with the sins of Ungodliness, Pride, and Impatience & Irritability. 
Moreover, I loved that the end of each chapter usually contained a prayer or a list of verses that the reader was encouraged to memorize and meditate over if she finds herself struggling with that particular sin. The practicality of the application along with the ease of reading (nice, short, well-structured chapters!) made this book a challenging yet joyful read.
Lastly, Bridges encourages readers to daily preach the Gospel to themselves in order to put into perspective our place in God's Kingdom and how we should view and interact with sin each and every day. Blessed truth.


What I Didn't Like: The first six chapters of the book dealt with the "disappearance of sin" in society, the remedy for sin in Christ, the guidance/power of the Spirit, and how to deal with sins. Then the book moved on to directly dealing with current "respectable sins" of our culture. I found the first six chapters to be of value; however, I personally think the concepts could have been narrowed down into just two or three chapters. At times his points seemed overdrawn.


Quotes: - "Our sins are forgiven and we are accepted as righteous by God because of both the sinless life and sin-bearing death of our Lord jesus Christ. There is no greater motivation for dealing with sin in our lives than the realization of these two glorious truths of the Gospel."
- "The actual cause of impatience lies within our own hearts, in our own attitude of insisting that others around us conform to our expectations."


Personal Takeaways: This book challenged how I daily deal with my own sin nature. My grandmother is famous in my family for saying, "put that old nature to death every single day." Although it can be humorous to hear her say this so frequently, there is much truth to her statement. I believe that is my main takeaway from this book. Like Paul says in his letter to the Galatians, my desire is to "keep in step with the Spirit" so as to not "gratify the desires of the sinful nature."
I know this is a broad and sweeping takeaway, but truly this is the first and most necessary step to dealing with respectable sins. 


Who's It For?: This book is very accessible to all believers, both young and old, learned and new. Anyone from high school to retirement can benefit much from Bridges handling, confronting, and squashing our "respectable sins."