活在戏服里的罪
作者：Paul David Tripp 译者：守诚斋
罪，活在戏服里，因此很难辨识。它看似美妙，恰是它如此可恶的原因之一。为了完成其邪恶的工作，它必须不让人觉察它的邪恶。在堕落世界中的生活，就像是参加一场最伟大的化妆舞会。
缺乏耐心地对人吼叫，穿着渴求真理的戏服；
贪念，可以伪装成爱美；
搬弄是非，穿戴的是关心人、替人代求的装束；
渴望权力与操纵，戴着恪守圣经领导模式的面具；
对人的惧怕，打扮成仆人的心；
自以为义的骄傲，总是以热爱圣经的智慧为化妆。
邪恶不会以邪恶来表现，这正是其迷人之处。
除非你认识罪的DNA就是诡诈，否则你无法明白罪那轻抚的手。这对我们个人的意义是什么呢？就是身为罪人，我们都是自我欺骗的高手。我常对人说，没有人比他们对自己的影响更大，因为对他们说话最多的人就是他们自己。我们最擅长的，就是把自己的错看成是美善的。我们对看见别人的罪、软弱和失败都比较在行，却看不到自己的。我们愿意宽容自己，却不能容忍别人做同样的事。追根究底，是因为罪使我们无法准确地听见或看见自己。我们不只是盲目，并且老是把事情搞得很复杂，使我们看不见自己的盲点。
这意味着什么？这意味着正确的自我判断全来自恩典。只有以神的话为镜子，靠着圣灵赐给我们心灵眼力的帮助，我才能看见真正的自己。在那些看见真实的自己的痛苦时刻，我们也许感觉不到神的爱，但这恰是正在发生的事。神，是如此爱我们，为了救赎我们，牺牲了祂的儿子；祂在我们里面动工，以至我们能清楚地认识自己，不让我们被自义所蒙蔽，而能怀着卑微的个人需要，寻求那只能在祂里面才找得到的恩典源泉。
注：
作者区普（Paul David Tripp）多年从事基督徒心理辅导，着有许多辅导书籍，译成中文的有：《青春的契机》（台福传播，2004），《言语的威力》（华神，2006）等。《Whiter Than Snow》是2008年7月刚出版的作品。
来源：《比雪更白：罪与怜悯的默想》（Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy.）
译者博客http://peddrluo.ccblog.net/archives/2008/30954.html
英文原文：
Sin Lives in a Costume
Here’s another excerpt from Paul Tripp’s book, Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy. Again, I found this both deeply convicting and hopeful at the same time.
Sin lives in a costume, that’s why it’s 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 part of its draw.
You’ll never understand sin’s slight of hand until you acknowledge that the DNA of sin is deception. Now what this means personally is that as sinners we are all very committed and gifted self-swindlers. I say all the time to people that no one is more influential in their own lives than they are because no one talks to themselves more than they do. We’re all 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 that we willingly tolerate in ourselves. The bottom line is that sin causes us to not hear or see ourselves with accuracy. And we not only tend to be blind, but to compound matters, we tend to be blind to our blindness.
What does all of this mean? It means that accurate-self assessment is the product of grace. It is only in the mirror of God’s Word and with the sight-giving help of the Holy Spirit, that I am able to see myself as I actually am. In those painful moments of accurate self-sight, we may not feel as if we are being loved, but that is exactly what is happening. The God, who loves us enough to sacrifice his Son for our redemption, works so that we would see ourselves clearly, so that we would not buy into the delusion of our own righteousness, and with a humble sense of personal need, seek the resources of grace that can only be found in him.
来源网址http://theologica.blogspot.com/2008/07/sin-lives-in-costume.html
