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Lewis B. Smedes Quotes

Powerful Lewis B. Smedes for Daily Growth

About Lewis B. Smedes

Lewis Berness Smedes (1921-2002) was an influential American theologian, ethicist, and author, known for his profound impact on Christian thought, particularly in the areas of love, forgiveness, and ethics. Born on March 15, 1921, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, to Dutch immigrant parents, Smedes spent his early years in Toronto before moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he completed high school. Smeded's academic journey began at Calvin College, where he studied theology and philosophy. He continued his studies at Princeton Theological Seminary, earning a Doctor of Divinity degree in 1947. During this time, he was deeply influenced by the works of Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, and Karl Barth, whose ideas on social ethics and religious pluralism shaped Smedes' own thought. Smedes served as a pastor at several churches in Michigan before joining Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, where he taught from 1951 to 1980. In 1963, he published "The Journeys of Faith," which explored the spiritual journeys of eight significant figures in Christianity, and became a best-seller. Smedes' most influential work, however, was "Forgive and Forget" (1967), a groundbreaking exploration of forgiveness that remains a classic in Christian ethics. His other notable works include "Love Makes Everything Possible" (1974) and "God Victorious" (1980). In 1975, Smedes co-founded the Institute for Christian Living, which aimed to provide practical resources for pastors and church leaders. He was also an active participant in the Civil Rights Movement, using his platform to advocate for social justice and racial equality. Lewis B. Smedes passed away on February 7, 2002, leaving behind a rich legacy of thoughtful, engaging, and deeply influential works that continue to shape Christian ethics and theology today.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness."

This quote highlights the impact of anger on personal happiness and well-being. It suggests that for each minute spent in anger, we effectively lose a full minute of joy or contentment, as our emotional state is dominated by negativity rather than positivity. The implication is that managing and reducing anger can lead to increased overall happiness and life satisfaction, as more moments are spent experiencing positive emotions.

"The only completely consistent people are the dead."

This quote by Lewis B. Smedes suggests that consistency in human behavior is a trait only exhibited by those who are no longer alive, as the living are prone to change and growth due to their inherent complexity and diverse experiences. In other words, it's impossible for humans to be consistently one way because we are constantly evolving and learning from our interactions with the world around us.

"Hatred is not the answer to any of life's problems. Love is."

This quote by Lewis B. Smedes asserts that rather than solving the challenges we encounter in life, hatred only exacerbates them. Instead, love—understood here as empathy, compassion, and understanding towards others—is the more effective response. By choosing love over hate, we create a more harmonious and productive environment, fostering peace, growth, and resolution. In essence, the quote emphasizes that love is not just a sentimental or emotional response but an essential tool for solving problems in our lives and relationships.

"There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love."

This quote underscores that love and forgiveness are inextricably linked. In a relationship where love exists, the ability to forgive is essential because it demonstrates understanding, patience, and compassion - key components of love. Conversely, genuine forgiveness can only occur when there's love for the person being forgiven, as this emotional bond allows one to let go of resentment and harbor compassion instead. In essence, Smedes suggests that forgiveness is an expression of love, and vice versa.

"It is in forgiving that we set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was actually ourselves."

This quote suggests that when we forgive others, we liberate not only them but also ourselves from the burden of resentment and anger. The person we truly set free in the process is ourselves, as harboring grudges can chain us emotionally, psychologically, or spiritually. Forgiveness, therefore, is a pathway to self-liberation and personal growth.

The problem with revenge is that it never evens the score. It ties both the injured and the injurer to an escalator of pain. Both are stuck on the escalator as long as parity is demanded, and the escalator never stops.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Pain, Revenge, Escalator, Injured

What is a disloyal act? A person is disloyal if he treats you as a stranger when, in fact, he belongs to you as a friend or partner. Each of us is bound to some special others by the invisible fibers of loyalty.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Fact, Some, Fibers, Stranger

Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Moving On, Memory, New, Erase

Our society is pluralistic. We who accept the privilege of membership in that society agree to respect the people's right to live by their own religious precepts.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Privilege, Own, Religious, Precepts

Any lazy or biased fool can have opinions; making judgments is the hard work of responsible and compassionate people.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Work, Lazy, Making, Judgments

Restorative justice is not a replacement of retributive justice, but a complement. It seeks the rehabilitation of the wrongdoer and the repair of the victim's injury.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Repair, Rehabilitation, Complement

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.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Past, Private, Histories, Stuck

Some people have loved ones they will not forsake, even though they are a pain in the neck.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Pain, Some, Loved Ones, Forsake

When we have been badly injured and clearly wronged, we make an instant caricature of the person who did it to us. We define him totally by the one wrong he did.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Caricature, Been, Badly, Wronged

Common sense suggests that if no one ever judged other people, there would be no real human community.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Real, Sense, Other, Common Sense

Promise keeping is a powerful means of grace in a time when people hardly depend on each other to remember and live by their word.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Depend, Other, Means, Hardly

I believe that we should, on biblical grounds, tell all parents of mentally disabled children that God loves their children, regrets terribly that they are disabled, and will, when they die, carry them gently into a heavenly life where every person is forever whole.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Die, Regrets, Tell, Gently

When we forgive evil we do not excuse it, we do not tolerate it, we do not smother it. We look the evil full in the face, call it what it is, let its horror shock and stun and enrage us, and only then do we forgive it.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Forgive, Horror, Shock, Tolerate

True, the apostles did not expressly say that people will be saved only if they repent, believe, and confess. But most evangelicals assume - with good reason - that this is what the apostles implied.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Reason, Implied, Repent, Evangelicals

Some people still make promises and keep those they make. When they do, they help make life around them more stably human.

- Lewis B. Smedes

More, Some, Still, Promises

Modern Americans suffer from a fear of judging. Passing judgment on the behavior of fellow human beings is considered an act of medieval, undemocratic intolerance.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Intolerance, Considered, Passing

Sometimes I like to list the strongest arguments I can find to support a point of view I think is wrong. When I have them before me, I am up against a real opponent rather than a hypothetical one that is an easy target for me to hit.

- Lewis B. Smedes

I Think, Rather, Before, Hypothetical

Retributive justice did not arise from any Christian principle; almost every pre-Christian society dealt with wrongdoers by causing them pain.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Pain, Principle, Almost, Causing

God does not give us salvation because we believe. Our believing is only the normal way of receiving the salvation he freely gives.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Give, Normal, Salvation, Freely

Jesus said that we should render to the state what properly belongs to the state, and though he had taxes in mind, we might reasonably infer that giving the state the job of punishing wrongdoers is one way of giving the state its due.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Mind, Might, Though, Reasonably

Nothing enables us to forgive like knowing in our hearts that we have been forgiven.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Knowing, Like, Been, Enables

The Holy Spirit, thank God, often enables people to forgive even though they are not sure how they did it.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Holy, Sure, Though, Enables

Nothing is more private than a woman's body; it is her physical, emotional, and moral citadel. She cannot be free at all if she is not free to decide for herself, in private, what to do with her body.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Woman, More, Private, Herself

At the cross, God was punishing Jesus for the sins of the world. God's justice required a penalty from sinners, and in his unspeakable love, he paid the penalty himself in the person of his crucified Son.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Love, Penalty, Cross, Crucified

The right to personal privacy is precious. Without it, we are all potential victims for a prying secret police.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Police, Precious, Prying, Victims

In a sinful world, no community can exist for long where nobody is ever held accountable: no teacher would grade a student's performance; no citizen would sit on a jury or call a failed leader to account.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Leader, Citizen, Accountable, Account

As I read the New Testament, I find only one path to salvation - the path of an informed faith in Jesus Christ.

- Lewis B. Smedes

New, Informed, Read, New Testament

Our history is an inevitable component of our being. One thing only can release us from the grip of our history. That one thing is forgiveness.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Release, Inevitable, Grip, Component

No one really forgives unless he has been hurt.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Been, Unless, Forgives, Hurt

You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well.

- Lewis B. Smedes

Forgiveness, Will, Begun, Hurt

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