Lewis B. Smedes
Lewis B. Smedes
Lewis Benedictus Smedeswas a renowned Christian author, ethicist, and theologian in the Reformed tradition. He was a professor of theology and ethics for twenty-five years at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. His 15 books, including the popular Forgive and Forget, covered some important issues including sexuality and forgiveness...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
CountryUnited States of America
forgiveness believe heart
I am certain that people never forgive because they believe they have an obligation to do it or because someone told them to do it. Forgiveness has to come from inside as a desire of the heart. Wanting to is the steam that pushes the forgiving engine.
forgiveness hurt children
Forgiving is an affair strictly between a victim and a victimizer. Everyone else should step aside...The worst wounds I ever felt were the ones people gave to my children. Wrong my kids, you wrong me. And my hurt qualifies me to forgive you. But only for the pain you caused me when you wounded them. My children alone are qualified to forgive you for what you did to them.
vanity people soul
Because arrogance is born in personal vanity, arrogant people are driven without mercy. They can never get enough power to fill the soul's needs or enough respect to overcome the fear that they deserve less than they are getting.
forgiveness hurt memories
If we say that monsters [people who do terrible evil] are beyond forgiving, we give them a power they should never have...they are given the power to keep their evil alive in the hearts of those who suffered most. We give them power to condemn their victims to live forever with the hurting memory of their painful pasts. We give the monsters the last word.
forgiveness eye world
Gandhi was right: if we all live by 'an eye for an eye' the whole world will be blind. The only way out is forgiveness.
forgiveness forgiving
We forgive freely or we do not really forgive at all.
kindness moving support
Kindness is the power that moves us to support and heal someone who offers nothing in return.
memories doubt forgiving
Can you stop your memory on a dime, put it in reverse, and spin it in another direction the way you can reverse direction on a tape recorder? We cannot forget on command. So we just have to let the forgetting happen as it will; we shouldn't rush it, and we certainly should not doubt the genuineness of our forgiving if we happen to remember. The really important thing is that we have the power to forgive what we still do remember.
pain forgiving way
Forgiving is, first of all, a way of helping yourself to get free of the unfair pain somebody caused you.
men wife different
My wife has lived with at least five different men since we were wed - and each of the five has been me.
hate bitterness heal
The longer we hate, the harder it is to heal us.
forgiveness wise justice
A wise judge may let mercy temper justice but may not let mercy undo it.
forgiveness people understanding
I have discovered that most people who tell me that they cannot forgive a person who wronged them are handicapped by a mistaken understanding of what forgiving is.
self surrender paradox
Self control is about being in charge of the direction our lives are taking. Now for the paradox: We get control of our lives, ultimately, not by will power but by surrender.