Some people still make promises and keep those they make. When they do, they help make life around them more stably human. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
It takes one person to forgive, it takes two people to be reunited. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Common sense suggests that if no one ever judged other people, there would be no real human community. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Some people have loved ones they will not forsake, even though they are a pain in the neck. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
The Holy Spirit, thank God, often enables people to forgive even though they are not sure how they did it. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Some people still have causes they will not desert, even though the cause seems lost. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Our sense of fairness tells us that people should pay for the wrong they do. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Promise keeping is a powerful means of grace in a time when people hardly depend on each other to remember and live… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Forgiveness is God's invention for coming to terms with a world in which people are unfair to each other and hurt each… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Happy people are not their own enemies, do not carry on an endless war with their souls. We may be fiercely at… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
If you cannot free people from their wrongs and see them as the needy people they are, you enslave yourself to your… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
True, the apostles did not expressly say that people will be saved only if they repent, believe, and confess. But most evangelicals… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
I am certain that people never forgive because they believe they have an obligation to do it or because someone told them… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Our society is pluralistic. We who accept the privilege of membership in that society agree to respect the people's right to live… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
You can forgive someone almost anything. But you cannot tolerate everything...We don't have to tolerate what people do just because we forgive… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
I have discovered that most people who tell me that they cannot forgive a person who wronged them are handicapped by a… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
When we forgive someone, we do not forget the hurtful act, as if forgetting came along with the forgiveness package, the way… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
If we say that monsters [people who do terrible evil] are beyond forgiving, we give them a power they should never have...they… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Spoken forgiveness, no matter how heartfelt, works best when we do not demand the response we want. I mean that when we… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
The moment of grace comes to us in the dynamics of any situation we walk into. It is an opportunity that God… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
When forgiveness is necessary, don't wait too long. We must begin to forgive, because without forgiving, we choke off our own joy;… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
I worry about fast forgivers. They tend to forgive quickly in order to avoid their pain. Or they forgive fast in order… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
The moments of grace usually give us more than one good thing we can do, and we do well if we manage… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
The problem with revenge is that it never gets what it wants; it never evens the score. Fairness never comes. The chain… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Any lazy or biased fool can have opinions; making judgments is the hard work of responsible and compassionate people. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Because arrogance is born in personal vanity, arrogant people are driven without mercy. They can never get enough power to fill the… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
The difference between guilt and shame is very clear--in theory. We feel guilty for what we do. We feel shame for what… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Some people ask who they are and expect their feelings to tell them. But feelings are flickering flames that fade after every… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Forgiving is an affair strictly between a victim and a victimizer. Everyone else should step aside...The worst wounds I ever felt were… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Forgiving does not usually happen at once. It is a process, sometimes a long one, especially when it comes to wounds gouged… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Forgiving is love's toughest work, and love's biggest risk. If you twist it into something it was never meant to be, it… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Nothing is more private than a woman's body; it is her physical, emotional, and moral citadel. She cannot be free at all if she… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share
...Forgiving is not having to understand. Understanding may come later, in fragments, an insight here and a glimpse there, after forgiving. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share
The God who has the whole world in his hands has grace for the whole world in his heart. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share
Nobody sees reality whole; we all need others to show us the parts of it that they see better than we do. Nobody sees… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share
I have discovered that most people who tell me that they cannot forgive a person who wronged them are handicapped by a mistaken understanding… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share
Spoken forgiveness, no matter how heartfelt, works best when we do not demand the response we want. I mean that when we tell people… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share
Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share
We feel properly embarrassed when we are caught doing something that makes us look inept, knuckleheaded, or inappropriate. Maybe the difference is this: we… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share
Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share
When I feel the joy of receiving a gift my heart nudges me to join creation's ballet, the airy dance of giving and receiving,… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share
Our sense of fairness tells us that people should pay for the wrong they do. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share
Gratitude is the best feeling I would ever have, the ultimate joy of living. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share
My father was only thirty-one when he died of a heart attack, much too young for a father to die and leave his young… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share
The only way to heal the pain which will not heal itself is to forgive the person who hurt you. Forgiveness heals the memory's… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share
If you cannot free people from their wrongs and see them as the needy people they are, you enslave yourself to your own painful… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share
![“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…” quote by Lewis B. Smedes](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/73a/lewis-b-smedes-4850_alive_if-we-say-that-monsters-people-who-do-te_940482.png)
