I have been reading this book as a devotional aid for some time now. It is written by Jerry Bridges and you can buy it here from Amazon. The subtext is ‘Confronting The Sins We Tolerate’. It is 21 ‘easy to read’ chapters long and Jerry deals with issues such as: ungodliness, anxiety, frustration, anger, unthankfulness, pride, lack of self control, irritability and judgementalism to name a few. The chapters are relatively short and punchy and delivered in Jerry’s trademark gentle, pastoral yet challenging style. This is a definite ‘conviction guaranteed or your money back’ read.
‘The motivation for this book stems form a growing conviction that those of us whom I call Conservative Evangelicals may have become so preoccupied with some of the major sins of society around us that we have lost sight of the need to deal with our own more “refined” or “subtle” sins’. (P9)
Such is the power of this book that a friend who was visiting us read a chapter and then felt so moved that they felt compounded to share about some inner bitterness toward us that they had tried to keep hidden for a long time. Thankfully, the issue was quickly resolved, but it goes to show the sneakiness of the enemy we face and it made me think about how many more ‘little sins’ like that many of us have ‘hidden away’ in our hearts? Not a theological blockbuster, but a heartwarming and practical, pastoral read. Buy it.