Sunday December 9th Lesson

Of You it is Required to Forgive
Chapter 23 from "Teachings of the Presidents of the Church George Albert Smith"

It is important to forgive others as well as ourselves. In addition to our manual we also discussed many excerpts from Elder Uchtdorf's talk "The Merciful Obtain Mercy". A link to the talk is provided below.
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/the-merciful-obtain-mercy?lang=eng&query=merciful+obtain+mercy

Christ is our perfect example. He has taught us how to forgive.
In Luke 23:34 we read Christs beautiful works "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
Even while suffering on the Cross, our Savior showed love and forgiveness to those who persecuted him.
As we obtain a greater understanding of the gospel and the Savior's Atonement, we will obtain a greater capacity to forgive others and ourselves.

If we want forgiveness we must forgive.
This can be learned form "The Parable of the Unrighteous Steward" found on page 249 of the manual or Matthew 18:23-35.
In this parable a man owes a large fortune to his master; not able to pay the debt, he asks for forgiveness. It is granted him, and he goes his way. Later he finds a man that owes him a small portion of money, and demands the payment without any thought to mercy. When the master finds out about this he brings in the unrighteous servant and punishes him.

We did an activity where hymn books were stacked in someones arms. This is like each time we don't forgive somebody. All the anger and burdens weigh us down spiritually, and hinder our ability to love others and feel the spirit. We must learn to let go of the burdens and the hurt and forgive. It will bring us true happiness.

From Elder Uchtdorf's talk we learned that God's love helps us to change and have our hearts softened, and that love allows us to forgive. Forgiveness is accepting Christ's Atonement because he will make everything right. In Romans 12:19-21 the last line says "overcome evil with good". There are many ways to do this whether it is through forgiving another, saying we are sorry, or even befriending those who wrong us.

May we all work on forgiving others and ourselves to find a greater happiness.