“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
C. S. Lewis was a profoundly influential writer among Christians. His sayings are always well-worded and full of insight, and this proverb is no exception. Here Lewis tells Christians how they ought to go about imitating Christ by forgiving others as he forgave us. C. S. Lewis wrote these words to remind us what it means to be a Christian. And what would happen were we to ignore these words? C. S. Lewis tells us that if we were unwilling to forgive others then neither would Christ forgive us. In his essay “On Forgiveness” C. S. Lewis tells us that “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.” Christ himself gives us a perfect example of this. Matthew 18: 21 - 35 tells the story of a man who owes his master an enormous debt and is forgiven, only to then require a fellow servant to pay up a debt owed to him without any mercy. It comes as no surprise that when the master hears of this he is angry and throws the servant into prison. On the other side of this we have extraordinary examples of the forgiveness that C. S. Lewis encourages us towards. Earlier in Charleston, South Carolina, a young man walked into Emmanuel African Methodist Church and shot nine people dead. The family of the slain nevertheless acted with amazing forgiveness. A mother of one dead is reported to have said “May God have mercy on your soul.” That is amazing. However It should not be surprising to us when we realize that this command is found in the Lord’s prayer itself. Christians are to ask God to forgive them as they forgive their debtors. The fact of the matter is that God requires something of Christians. Faith in Jesus Christ, true faith, will lead to a forgiving of all sins just as Christ forgave us.
C. S. Lewis was a profoundly influential writer among Christians. His sayings are always well-worded and full of insight, and this proverb is no exception. Here Lewis tells Christians how they ought to go about imitating Christ by forgiving others as he forgave us. C. S. Lewis wrote these words to remind us what it means to be a Christian. And what would happen were we to ignore these words? C. S. Lewis tells us that if we were unwilling to forgive others then neither would Christ forgive us. In his essay “On Forgiveness” C. S. Lewis tells us that “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.” Christ himself gives us a perfect example of this. Matthew 18: 21 - 35 tells the story of a man who owes his master an enormous debt and is forgiven, only to then require a fellow servant to pay up a debt owed to him without any mercy. It comes as no surprise that when the master hears of this he is angry and throws the servant into prison. On the other side of this we have extraordinary examples of the forgiveness that C. S. Lewis encourages us towards. Earlier in Charleston, South Carolina, a young man walked into Emmanuel African Methodist Church and shot nine people dead. The family of the slain nevertheless acted with amazing forgiveness. A mother of one dead is reported to have said “May God have mercy on your soul.” That is amazing. However It should not be surprising to us when we realize that this command is found in the Lord’s prayer itself. Christians are to ask God to forgive them as they forgive their debtors. The fact of the matter is that God requires something of Christians. Faith in Jesus Christ, true faith, will lead to a forgiving of all sins just as Christ forgave us.
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Wow.. the story of the victim's mom tho... so inspiring. I must be more forgiving as a Christian.
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