An Accurate Self-Assessment

An Accurate Self-Assessment

"For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me." Psalm 51:3

I have been working through a very powerful study on Psalm 51 by Dr. Paul David Tripp. The study is entitled: Whiter Than Snow -- Meditations on Sin and Mercy and I would like to recommend it to you. It is one of those studies that I was not prepared to do, but one that is very necessary.

I want to share portions of a chapter called "An Accurate Self-Assessment." We don't hear sermons about sin any more. We don't even name sin in the same way that the Bible names it. We prettify it and call it other names. Well, listen to the words of Dr. Paul Tripp and allow them to sink deep into your soul this morning ...

Sin lives in a costume; that's why it is so hard to recognize. The fact that sin looks so good is one of the things that make it so bad. In order for it to do its evil work, it must present itself as something that is anything but evil.

Life in a fallen world is like attending the ultimate masquerade party. Impatient yelling wears the costume of a zeal for truth. Lust can masquerade as a love for beauty. Gossip does its evil work by living in the costume of concern and prayer. Craving for power and control wears the mask of biblical leadership. Fear of man gets dressed up as a servant heart. The pride of always being right masquerades as a love for biblical wisdom. Evil simply doesn't present itself as evil, which is a part of its draw.

You will never understand sin's sleight of hand until you acknowledge that the DNA of sin is deception ... I say all the time to people that no one is more influential in their own lives then they themselves are because no one talks to them more them they themselves do.

We are too skilled at looking at our own wrong and seeing good. We're all much better at seeing the sin, weakness, and failure of others than we are our own. We're all very good at being intolerant of others of the very things we are willing to tolerate in ourselves. The bottom line is that sin causes us not hear or see ourselves with accuracy. And we not only tend to be blind, but, to compound matters, we also tend to be blind to our own blindness ...

Only Jesus can open our blind eyes. Whenever a sinner accurately assesses his OWN sin, the angels in heaven rejoice, and so should we." from Whiter Than Snow -- Meditations on Sin and Mercy -- published by our good friends at Crossway.

Brothers, are you willing to do what David did in Psalm 51 and take an accurate self-assessment of your sin today? Go back and read the Psalm and allow the Spirit of God to talk to you. It's painful, but a necessary step in your walk with Him. -- Bill Welte is President and CEO of America's KESWICK

God's WORD for YOU: Proverbs 31; Psalm 132-134; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Great Quote: Deep within there is a glorious and terrible empty space - loneliness. It is out of sight, pushing us to our best and to our worst. Behind every effort to make a friend - Behind ambition - Behind pride - Behind gossip - Behind memories of your mother's kitchen - Loneliness. We were created with the space carefully planted in our hearts. God created us with the loneliness that moves the heart to others, the loneliness that moves the heart at last to God. Is it what moves us to become whole. David Kidd