Forgiveness brings peace to an aching soul.
Bitterness can gnaw at our hearts for many reasons: insult, offense, sin, guilt. Perhaps we have failed to let go of a grudge. Perhaps we are coming up on the 490th round of forgiveness. Perhaps it is our own mistakes that we need to forget. Whatever our situation, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland promises in his talk “The Ministry of Reconciliation” that when we let go of our long-lasting grudges, forgiveness will bring peace that can come no other way.
Photo by Pixabay.
Elder Holland goes on to say that choosing to forgive can bring us closer to God. At times, even the thought of forgiving someone who caused us pain can be laughable. However, keeping the commandments brings us more happiness than holding on to a grudge. We read in the scriptures that the first commandment is to love God, and the second is to love our neighbor (Luke 10:27). Try as we might, we cannot love our neighbors when we have not yet forgiven them.
Other Prophets and Apostles have also promised peace from forgiveness. In one talk, President Gordon B. Hinckley recognizes that, often, the act of forgiveness is a miracle. He says, “Somehow forgiveness, with love and tolerance, accomplishes miracles that can happen in no other way.”
As we strive to forgive those who have caused us pain, we can be motivated by the blessings and the feeling of peace that come through forgiveness. Christ commands, “Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven” (Luke 6:37). These blessings can come each time we decide to forgive.
Learn more about forgiveness from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in “The Ministry of Reconciliation.”
Source: ChurchofJesusChrist.org
—Savanna Stone, Mormon Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY PIXABAY
Find more insights
Read more about forgiveness from past prophets in Gordon B. Hinckley’s talk “Forgiveness.”
Study about the importance of forgiveness as Christ taught it in the New Testament.