Respectable Sins

Our ladies' Bible study will resume next week, and we'll be going through Jerry Bridges' new book, Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate. The basic premise of the book is that many conservative evangelicals have become so preoccupied with the major sins of society that we fail to see or deal with our own "refined" or subtle sins, and there are many. The gospel is not just for the salvation of unbelievers; it also enables followers of Christ to confront the on-going sin in our lives. In reading ahead, I came across this quote by John Newton in the chapter on anxiety and frustration, two sins I desperately need to address:

"[One of the marks of Christian maturity which a believer should seek is] an acquiescence in the Lord's will founded in a persuasion of his wisdom, holiness, sovereignty, and goodness...So far as we attain to this, we are secure from disappointment. Our own limited views, and short-sighted purposes and desires, may be, and will be, often over-ruled; but then our main and leading desire, that the will of the Lord may be done, must be accomplished. How highly does it become us, both as creatures and as sinners, to submit to the appointment of our Maker! and how necessary is it to our peace! This great attainment is too often unthought of, and overlooked; we are prone to fix our attention upon the second causes and immediate instruments of events; forgetting that whatever befalls us is according to his purpose, and therefore must be right and seasonable in itself, and shall in the issue be productive of good. From hence arise impatience, resentment, and secret repinings [i.e., complainings,], which are not only sinful, but tormenting; whereas, if all things are in his hand, if the very hairs of our head are numbered; if every event, great and small, is under the direction of his providence and purpose; and if he has a wise, holy, and gracious end in view, to which everything that happens is subordinate and subservient; - then we have nothing to do, but with patience and humility to follow as he leads, and cheerfully to expect a happy issue...How happy are they who can resign all to him, see his hand in every dispensation, and believe that he chooses better for them than they possibly could for themselves!" (p. 66)