A Gift

FORGIVENESS


A few things have brought this topic to mind. In the Bible, Jesus Christ taught "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despite fully use you and persecute you". In the beginning of the Book of Mormon, time and time again, Nephi's brothers rebel against him and his father Lehi. They curse and persecute Nephi and time after time again Nephi forgives them "I did frankly forgive them all that they had done". (1 Nephi 7:21)
I just finished the book "The Hiding Place". This is my second time reading, the first when I was a teen. This time I appreciated more, and related deeper to the truths Miss Ten Boom discovered and wrote about in her experience through the holocaust. At one point of her story she comes into contact with one of the guards that treated her and others horribly in the concentration camp. She described the horrible scenes that returned to her memory at the sight of him. He extended his hand and thanked her for her message of joy and redemption through the Lord Jesus. She then described the feelings that passed through her and difficulty in taking his offered hand. She knew she needed to forgive but found not the strength within herself to do it. She then offered a silent plea "Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give Your forgiveness." The moment she took the man's hand, an overwhelming love for him sprang form her heart. Then she writes "And so I discovered that it is not our forgiveness any more than our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives along with the command, the love itself."
I know through Jesus all things are possible. This is how Nephi was able to "frankly forgive" his brothers again and again. "Allow God the be the judge of others' harmful actions. Forgiveness can heal terrible wounds, replacing the poison of contention and hatred with the peace and love that only God can give." (True to the Faith, forgiveness)

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