I worry about fast forgivers. They tend to forgive quickly in order to avoid their pain. Or they forgive fast in order to gain an advantage over the people they forgive. And their instant forgiving only makes things worse… People who have been wronged badly and wounded deeply should give themselves time and space before they forgive… There is a right moment to forgive.
—Lewis B. Smedes
Topics: Forgiveness
To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.
—Lewis B. Smedes
Topics: Forgiveness
We forgive freely or we do not really forgive at all.
—Lewis B. Smedes
Topics: Forgiveness
The difference between guilt and shame is very clear—in theory. We feel guilty for what we do. We feel shame for what we are.
—Lewis B. Smedes
Topics: Guilt
Forgiving is love’s toughest work, and love’s biggest risk. If you twist it into something it was never meant to be, it can make you a doormat or an insufferable manipulator. Forgiving seems almost unnatural. Our sense of fairness tells us people should pay for the wrong they do. But forgiving is love’s power to break nature’s rule.
—Lewis B. Smedes
Topics: Forgiveness
You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well.
—Lewis B. Smedes
Topics: Forgiveness
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