By Robert Flynn on
10/25/2008 8:00 AM
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 very different. (C. S. Lewis, Virtue and Vice)
We often needlessly wander through the darkened fortress of discouragement and despair. The high hardened ramparts of our own building. Brick by brick did they rise from the hardness of our own heart. Cemented indestructible by the piteous mortar of our ever bleeding heart. We are powerless to extricate ourselves from this fallen estate because of our self-deception.
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By Robert Flynn on
10/23/2008 7:18 AM
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, dirt, meanness, and malice, and nevertheless being wholly reconciled to the man who has done it.... (C. S. Lewis, Virtue and Vice)
The chief cause of the current state of affairs that surround us may be viewed in the mirror....
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By Robert Flynn on
9/4/2008 7:28 AM
Does the Bible teach that we are to forgive under all circumstances? I answer categorically, vigorously, ardently, insistently that it DOES NOT!
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By Robert Flynn on
9/3/2008 4:12 PM
You cannot heal a wound by ignoring the injury! Isn't that what we are doing when we say to ourselves that the hurt we received doesn't matter. Our tendency in these matters is to tough it out. My favorite cartoon, from my Navy days, was a picture of an old Boatswains Mate (Bos'ns Mate) whose left sleeve betrayed him as long on service and short on rank. There was an anvil, a large hammer, and his thumb with marks that showed it to be radiating with much pain. The caption read: “Goodness, I've...
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By Robert Flynn on
9/2/2008 4:11 PM
A drunken driver speeds through a school zone and strikes several children in the crosswalk. If the children's parents believe they must excuse the driver because he was drunk, they will not forgive. Excusing the drunken drive would say, in essence, that he could not help himself as was not to blame for his actions. This would be untrue.
If we look closely, we will find that "Forgiveness" is the polar opposite of excusing. Forgiveness must reach beyond excusing. Forgiveness acknowledges...
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By Robert Flynn on
9/1/2008 4:10 PM
"We need to sort out our hurts and learn the difference between those that call for the miracle of forgiveness and those that can be borne with a sense of humor. If we lump all our hurts together and prescribe forgiveness for all of them, we turn the art of forgiving into something cheap and commonplace. Like a good wine, forgiving must be preserved for the right occasion." Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive and Forget.
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