Excerpts from Whiter than Snow

One of my favorite devotional books is Whiter then Snow, Meditations on Sin and Mercy by Paul David Tripp. The devotionals are based on Psalm 51which is Kings David's confession after being confronted with his sin. Let me give you a taste....

"Rather than appealing to the meary of the Lord in the face of sin, what I actually do instead is function as my own defense lawyer and present a list of arguments for my own righteousness. The theology behind the defense is that my greatest problem is outside of me, not inside of me.....Before you can make a clean and unamended confession of your sin, you have to first begin by confessing your righteousness. It's not just your sin that separates you from God but your righteousness does as well. Because, when you are convinced you are righteous, you don't see the forgiving, rescuing, and restoring mercy that can be found only in Jesus Christ." pg. 22

"Grace is for the willing and we become willing when we confess not only the gravity of our sins, but our inablity to delivers ourselves from it." pg. 24

"True confession always results in living for something bigger." pg. 42

" 'Thy Kingdom come' is a dangerous prayer, for it means the death of your own sovereignty." pg. 62

"When your sin really does become ugly to you, when it produces pain in your heart and sickness in your stomach, you celebrate forgiveness, but you want something more. You want to be clean." pg. 66

"You know whether a house is being restored or condemned by the size of tools that are out front. If you see a crane and a wrecking ball, the house isn't being restored; it's coming down. Wrecking ball responses to the sin of another are seldom restorative." pg. 76

"The desire to be God rather than to serve God lies at the bottom of every sin that anyone has ever committed....sin is rooted in my unwillingness to find joy in living my life under authority of, and for the glory of, Another. Sin is rotted in my desire to live for me." pg. 81

"To trangress means to acknowlegde the boudaries and to step willingly over them." pg. 86

"The very fact that sin is about self-focus and self-love guarantees the fact that I'll not love you the way that I should." pg. 96

"Sin is all about foolishness. Sinners are fools who are able to convince themselves that they are wise." pg. 108