Forgiveness: The Power To Change The Past

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By Lewis B. Smedes on January 1, 2010 ,

Forgiveness: The Power To Change The Past

TWO ANXIETIES DOMINATE, most of our lives. We are anxious in the face of our unchangeable past; we long to recreate segments of our private histories, but we are stuck with them. We are anxious in the face of our unpredictable futures; we long to control our destinies, but we cannot bring them under our management. Thus, two basic longings, lying at the root of most others, are frustrated: we cannot alter a painful past or control a threatening future.

God offers two answers to our deepest anxieties. He is a forgiving God who recreates our pasts by forgiving them. He is a promising God who controls our future by making and keeping promises. By forgiving us, he changes our past. By promising, he secures our future. . .

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Lewis B. Smedes

Professor

Lewis Benedictus Smedes, Professor, (1921 — 2002) was a renowned Christian author, ethicist, and theologian in the Reformed tradition. He was a professor of theology and ethics for twenty-five years at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. In addition to many articles, Smedes wrote many popular books including Forgive & Forget: Healing the Hurts We Don't Deserve, Standing on the Promises, Choices: Making Right Decisions in a Complex World, Mere Morality: What God Expects From Ordinary People, A Life of Distinction and My God and I, a Spiritual Memoir.

 

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