Broken Down House (2)

Some more words of wisdom from Tripp....

We all tend to be quite adept at ignoring our own sin while being highly sensitised to the sin of others. It is hard for us to receive the loving criticism, confrontation, and rebuke of others because we tend to think of ourselves as more sanctified than we really are. (p35)

There will war in your heart between what the Bible has to say about you and what you like to think is true about you. ... That is why we get defensive when someone points out our sin and weakness. I become defensive when what people say about me doesn't agree with my view of myself. It feels like I am being misjudged.
This is why I need to remember constantly that the Bible is the world's best diagnostic tool. (p36)

No matter what I face in this fallen world, my greatest problem in life exists inside of me and not outside of me. (p37)

So yes, you are a sinner... But you are more than a sinner. You are also a child of grace. (p41)

Grace will confront you with the fact that you are much less than you thought you were, even as it assures you that you can be far more than you had imagined. Grace will put you in your place without ever putting you down. (p42)

The power that God gives me is not a thing. God gives me a Person. To provide for me the strength I need to live in the way he has designed, God gives me the only thing that can truly help me. He gives me Himself. The Spirit of God unzips me and gets inside me, enabling me to desire, think, do, and say the things that fit within the boundaries of his plan and purpose for me (See Galatians 2:20 and Ephesians 3:20). (p46)

My identity as sinner daily confronts me with how deep and pervasive my need actually is. My identity as a child of child confronts me with how expansive my potential actually is. (p47)