Dad's message

March 14, 2010

The theme for this years Conference is “The Reformation and Rededication Movement of 2010”

One of the things I’ve heard is something like “I use to come to Church but the Bishop offended me.” Or “I never go to Relief Society anymore because in 19 whenever she upset me so I quit going.” Or perhaps “my Young Womens Leader or Young Mens Leader said or did something that we didn’t like, thus started many years of inactivity.

If you have been offended or know someone who has I want you to know that there is great power in FORGIVENESS!

It is said that to forgive is a divine attribute. It is to pardon or excuse someone from blame for an offense or misdeed. The scriptures refer to forgiveness in two ways. The Lord commands us to repent of our sins and seek His forgiveness. He also commands us to forgive those who offend or hurt us.

Brothers and Sisters, we must be willing to forgive others. The Lord said in (D&C 64:9-10): "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. I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men".

In the everyday circumstances of life, we will surely be wronged by other people—sometimes innocently and sometimes intentionally. It is easy to become bitter or angry or vengeful in such situations, but this is not the Lord's way. The Savior said in Matthew 5:44, "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". He set the perfect example of forgiveness when He was on the cross. Referring to the Roman soldiers who had crucified Him, in Luke 23:34, He prayed, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do".

We should pray for strength to forgive those who have wronged us, and we should abandon feelings of anger, bitterness, or revenge. We should also look for the good in others rather than focusing on their faults and magnifying their weaknesses. God will be the judge of others' harmful actions.

In the May 2003 Ensign, Elder David E. Sorensen, Of the Presidency of the Seventy gave a message on Forgiveness Will Change Bitterness to Love. He related a story about a small farming community where he grew up. This story was between two men, Chet and Walt and over water rights. As the story goes water was a very needed commodity that there wasn’t enough of. On one particular July day they got into an argument resulting in using their shovels as weapons and Chet lost an eye. Chet’s anger grew and grew until the day when he retrieved his gun and shot and killed Walt. Chet went to prison with a life sentence. In his old age, with his health failing, was finally released to die at home. How tragic that the passion of the moment was allowed to escalate out of control—eventually taking the lives of both men—simply because two men could not forgive each other over a few shares of irrigation water.

President Brigham Young once compared being offended to a poisonous snakebite. He said that “there are two courses of action to follow when one is bitten by a rattlesnake. One may, in anger, fear, or vengefulness, pursue the creature and kill it. Or he may make full haste to get the venom out of his system.” He said, “If we pursue the latter course we will likely survive, but if we attempt to follow the former, we may not be around long enough to finish it.”

The Savior said in D&C 64:9, “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.”

Elder Sorensen said, this is not to say that forgiveness is easy. When someone has hurt us or those we care about, that pain can almost be overwhelming. It can feel as if the pain or the injustice is the most important thing in the world and that we have no choice but to seek vengeance. But Christ, the Prince of Peace, teaches us a better way. It can be very difficult to forgive someone the harm they’ve done us, but when we do, we open ourselves up to a better future. No longer does someone else’s wrongdoing control our course. When we forgive others, it frees us to choose how we will live our own lives. Forgiveness means that problems of the past no longer dictate our destinies, and we can focus on the future with God’s love in our hearts.

Brothers and Sisters, it is my prayer that we will ask our Heavenly Father to help us to overcome foolish pride, resentment, and pettiness. May He help us to forgive and love, so we may be friends with our Savior, others, and ourselves.