Our sense of fairness tells us that people should pay for the wrong they do. — 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
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
Jesus said that we should render to the state what properly belongs to the state, and though he had taxes in mind,… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
How many times should you forgive your household bruiser? You should not even think about forgiving him. Not yet. Not as long… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
I believe that we should, on biblical grounds, tell all parents of mentally disabled children that God loves their children, regrets terribly… — 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
Once we have forgiven, however, we get a new freedom to forget. This time forgetting is a sign of health; it is… — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Can you stop your memory on a dime, put it in reverse, and spin it in another direction the way you can… — 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
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 Image
...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 Image
The God who has the whole world in his hands has grace for the whole world in his heart. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
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 Image
Our sense of fairness tells us that people should pay for the wrong they do. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image
Gratitude is the best feeling I would ever have, the ultimate joy of living. — Lewis B. Smedes Copy Share Image