Forgiveness

Forgiveness is the business of the Church. C.S. Lewis wrote in 1947, "We believe that God forgives us our sins; but also that he will not do so unless we forgive other people their sins against us. There is no doubt about the second part of this statement. It is in the Lord's Prayer: it was emphatically stated by our Lord. 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 the 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." Lewis would add, "To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you."

"When we define ourselves by the people who have hurt us, or the people who hate us, we remain in bondage to them until we are able to forgive. When we are unable to let go of the past, our identity is defined by those moments of hatred and pain and, in the end, that will lead to our spiritual and emotional death. To forgive does not mean that we are to excuse. Many believe that when you ask them to forgive someone who has cheated or intimidated or brutalized them, you are trying to demonstrate that there was really no deceit or maltreatment or assault. If that were so, there would be nothing to forgive. Forgiveness is much more demanding. It means, in Lewis' words, "that you must make every effort to kill every trace of resentment in your own heart---every wish to humiliate or hurt someone or to pay them out." Forgiveness springs from humility, in the realization of our own weakness, imperfection and sinfulness. If God, who is perfect, can forgive sinners, how much more should humans do so?"