Forgiveness

A brave man thinks no one his superior who does him an injury; for he has it then in his power to make himself superior to the other by forgiving it. -Alexander Pope

Only the brave know how to forgive; it is the most refined and generous pitch of virtue that human nature can arrive at. A coward never forgave; it is not in his nature. -Laurence Sterne

Doing an injury puts you below your enemy; revenging one, makes you even with him; forgiving it sets you above him. -Anon

We don't have to start all over again and try to keep the slate clean. There is no more slate. -Jerry Bridges

In the Christian view of things, forgiveness is never detached from the cross. In other words, forgiveness is never the product of love alone, still less of mawkish sentimentality. Forgiveness is possible only because there has been a real offense, and a real sacrifice to offset that offence. -D.A. Carson

If my fist is clenched against someone else, it cannot at the same time be open to receive the gift of God. -Michael Green

It [forgiveness] is not his [God's] job. It is never anyone's job when they have been wronged. Forgiveness is always a matter of sheer generosity on the part of the wronged partner. It can never be demanded as a right. And how much less in God's case. He is no private person. We have not only repudiated relations with him, but have laughed at his standards and pleased ourselves. It perhaps shows the extent of the blindness of our age that we should marvel that God might not forgive everyone at the wave of a hand, whereas previous generations have wrestled with the problem of how a holy God could have any sinners in his company at all. -Michael Green (20th century)

For the true Christian it is not enough to be saved from hell. We want to walk with God, to be close to God. But our sins disturb that intimacy, and may disturb our peace. We do not cease to be children of God. We can still pray Our Father. But we are like children locked out, kept at a distance, the show of affection withdrawn. And so we pray forgive us our sins as a much-loved child comes in sorrow to be drawn close by a loving parent. Mere forgiveness is not enough: we want forgiveness with kisses, forgiveness and our Father's face. -Peter Lewis

Someone once said, "When we go to our Father grieving and anxious, confessing 'Father, I've done it again,' He replies, 'What do you mean 'again'" He forgives and forgets. He does not bind us to our past. -Peter Lewis

It is a good deal better to be justified than pardoned. Suppose I was arrested for stealing $1,000, tried, and found guilty; but suppose the judge had mercy on me and pardoned me; I would come out of prison, but it would be with my head down. I had been found guilty, I could never face the world again. But suppose I was accused of stealing and it could not be proven, and when the case came on, it was found I had not done anything of the kind; then I would be justified. It would make all the difference in the world. Now God justifies us by the blood of His Son. -D.L. Moody (1837-99)

The only obstacle in the way of receiving pardon for sins are those you make yourself. -D.L. Moody (1837-99)

Faith in God's forgiveness does not merely mean a persuasion that I am off the hook. It means savoring the truth that a forgiving God is the most precious reality in the universe. -John Piper

I'm afraid that people who so easily find forgiveness, have in fact forgiven themselves and do not wait until the Lord forgives them. There's a big difference. If you have sinned, you do indeed need forgiveness for your sins. Be careful, however, that you don't forgive yourself and quickly claim a promise to suit your case. The Lord doesn't work that way. He certainly is a forgiving God. He is gracious and merciful. But the forgiveness and the grace of God are experienced only by those who at the same time are humble and loathe themselves. -Cornelis Pronk

There is a certain mythical cloud of sin which people talk about and affect to deplore, and yet they have no sense of the solid weight and heinousness of their actual iniquity. Certain grievous sins are comparable to cauldrons of foaming filth: no man will willingly owe to them, however clearly they may be his; but when he does own to them before God, let him recollect that it is this real sin, this foul and essentially abominable transgression, which is put away by the atonement of Christ. Sin confessed with tears, sin which causes the very heart to bleed, killing sin, damning sin. This is the kind of sin for which Jesus died. Sham sinners may be content with a sham Savior; but our Lord Jesus is the real Savior, who did really die, and died for real sin. -Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-92)

When God forgives sin, he blots out the debt, he draws the red lines of Christ's blood over it, and so crosses the debt-book. -Thomas Watson (1620-86)

Once a traveler was sitting in a railroad coach next to a young man who appeared to be depressed. Finally the latter revealed that he was a convict who had just gotten out of prison. He also admitted that his imprisonment had brought shame on his family and that they had neither visited him nor written much. He tried to convince himself that their negligence was only because they were too poor to travel, too uneducated to write. Despite his misgivings, he hoped they had forgiven him. To make it as easy as possible for them he had written suggesting that if his family had forgiven him they should put up a white ribbon in the big apple tree near the tracks as a signal. If they didn't want him back they were to do nothing; he would understand, stay on the train, and head West. As the train neared his hometown, the suspense became so great he couldn't bear to look out the window. The older man changed places with him and said he would watch for the apple tree. In a few minutes put his hand on the young convict's arm. There it is he whispered, his voice suddenly unsteady. It's all right. The whole tree is white with ribbons.-Richard Wurmbrand

So I am justified, that is, I'm just-as-if-I'd never sinned. -Richard Wurmbrand

Somebody once asked a child what one must do before receiving forgiveness of sin. The candid reply was, Sin! There could not have been a better answer. -Richard Wurmbrand