Tuesday, March 29, 2011

To forgive the inexcusable...

So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart. ~Matthew 18:35

"…If you don’t forgive you will not be forgiven. No part of His teaching is clearer, and there are no exceptions to it. He doesn’t say that we are to forgive other people’s sins provided they are not too frightful, or provided there are extenuating circumstances, or anything of that sort. We are to forgive them all, however spiteful, however mean, however often they are repeated. If we don’t, we shall be forgiven none of our own…

"...To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.

"This is hard. It is perhaps not so hard to forgive a single great injury. But to forgive the incessant provocations of daily life -- to keep on forgiving the bossy mother-in-law, the bullying husband, the nagging wife, the selfish daughter, the deceitful son -- How can we do it? Only, I think, by remembering where we stand, by meaning our words when we say in our prayers each night "Forgive our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us." We are offered forgiveness on no other terms. To refuse it is to refuse God's mercy for ourselves. There is no hint of exceptions and God means what He says."

C. S. Lewis

Let me remember your mercies, O Lord! Let me be mindful of your kindness and the love you have shown of old. May my memory of others be like your memory of me, full of compassion and forgiveness. Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. In you I hope all day long because of your goodness, O Lord.  ~adapted from Psalm 25

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