Today's Reading
On forgiveness
I find that when I think ()
I am asking God to forgive me I am often in reality (unless I watch
myself very carefully) asking Him to do something quite different.
I am
asking Him not to forgive me but to excuse me.
But there is all the
difference /in the world /between forgiving and excusing.
* in the world; used for emphasis in questions, especially to express astonishment or disbelief.
Forgiveness says
“Yes, you have done this thing, but I accept your apology,
I will never
hold it against you and [everything between us two] will be exactly as it
was before.”
But excusing says “I see that you couldn’t help it or
didn’t mean it, you weren’t really to blame.”. . .
Real
forgiveness means looking steadily at the sin, the sin //that is left over
/without any excuse,
after all allowances have been made,
and seeing it
in all its horror 경악, dirt 추함, meanness 사나움 and malice 악의,
and nevertheless being
wholly reconciled to the man //who has done it.
* after all allowances have been made,
and (after) seeing it
in all its horror
and (after) nevertheless being
wholly reconciled to the man //who has done it.
From The Weight of Glory
Compiled in Words to Live By
The Weight of Glory: And Other Addresses.
Copyright © 1949, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Copyright renewed © 1976,
revised 1980 C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with
permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Words to Live By: A Guide for the Merely Christian. Copyright © 2007 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.