Forgiveness

Today's scripture mastery is, to me, one of the most powerful scriptures I know of.  It is very profound, and not always easy to follow--but essential for us to do anyways. . .

Today's scripture mastery is found in Doctrine and Covenants 64:9-11

 9 Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.

 10 I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.

 11 And ye ought to say in your hearts—let God judge between me and thee, and reward thee according to thy deeds.

Because we are not perfect, and we ALL make mistakes, it is vital that we forgive others.  That is not always an easy thing to do--in fact, we learn from the world that we should do the exact opposite of what the Lord wants us to do.  We learn that whatever offense we have received, we must seek revenge, and make the one who offended and hurt us pay.  That is a false doctrine that only brings more pain and misery in this world. . .Don't succumb to those false teachings.

It is much better to follow the example of Christ.  He taught about this very subject in Matthew 5:38-48:

 38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

 39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

 40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.

 41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

 42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

 43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

One of the teachings of the gospel that makes this much easier to do is to remember that this life is not all there is. . .Sometimes those that hurt or offend us will seem to not have any consequences in this life.  However, they will be judged by Christ, and all will be made right.  (We will all be judged by Christ--we must all remember that)   If we fail to forgive others, we will be judged harshly as well. 

Besides all that, if we forgive others, we will have a huge burden lifted from us, and life will be much easier to bear.  The burden of holding a grudge is one of those burdens that Christ asks us to cast on him.  He does make our burdens much lighter when we cast our burdens on Him.

Forgive, and be happy here in this life, as well as in the life to come!