Tripp starts it off with this statement:

I simply must not underestimate sin and I simply cannot overestimate grace.

It is easy to be blind to my own sin and be hyper-vigilant about someone else’s. It is easy to downplay my own sin but magnify another’s. There is a shield over my eyes. Blinders. A veil when it comes to my own sin. But it’s like I have a magnifying glass or a microscope on another’s. Not seeing my need for grace is a dangerous hole to fall into. Tripp pretty much lays it on the line:

Denying my need for grace and underestimating the power of what that grace can do never, ever leads to anything good…People who deny sin tend to not progressively conquer it, and people who devalue grace tend not to run to it for help.

Which one am I? Well…both at times. There are times I wear blinders on my eyes and see myself as better than I really am. I then see others as worse than they really are. It is easy to become self-righteous and not see myself as God sees me. It is at that point grace becomes a non-issue with me because I think I don’t need it.  You do but not me!

“Father, forgive me for my self-righteousness, for my failure to see my sin and myself as you see me. I NEED your grace! Help me to always see that and never get ‘right’ in my own eyes.”