Why do I need to forgive others? March Come Follow Me
Why do I need to forgive others?
I LOVE, love, love this lesson. This lesson centers around the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant which is a perfect way to teach “why do I need to forgive others?”. There is a really great study sheet included that helps you go through, and discuss, each verse of this parable. We have given you tips here and there as well in order to grasp the important principles and have a really great discussion as you study together.
This parable is about a servant who owed the king 10,000 talents, and another man who owed that same servant 100 pence. The 10,000 talents is meant to be an impossible number to repay, while the 100 pence is very repayable. When this parable was originally given, those that heard it understood how enormous of an amount 10,000 talents was. Since we no longer have that system of money, some important principles can be missed as we read it. Therefore, We have given you visuals that can help those you are teaching grasp the difference between these two debts, and therefore understand the principles meant to be applied to our lives in this parable.
You can find this package HERE.
Or it is part of the March combo package which you can find HERE.
Here are some great quotes about forgiveness that you may want to use:
And please don’t ask if that’s fair – that the injured should have to bear the burden of forgiveness for the offender. Don’t ask if “justice” doesn’t demand that it be the other way around. No, whatever you do, don’t ask for justice. You and I know that what we plead for is mercy – and that is what we must be willing to give.
— Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “I Stand All Amazed,” Ensign, August 1986, p. 72
Some people say that to completely forgive someone we must forget what transpired. I am not convinced this is possible, short of brain surgery. . . . Compassion will help the forgiving person to finally let go of the incident, leave it alone, and with the aid of the Spirit, let days and weeks of life’s other challenges and blessings help it fade into the past. . . .
Forgiveness and trust are not synonymous. We are required to forgive everyone (see D&C 64:10) but counseled to be cautious in placing our trust in others (see Matthew 7:6; Proverbs 25:19). Trust places a responsibility in people that they may not be ready to handle. Trust must be earned.
— Steve F. Gilliland, “Forgiveness, Our Challenge and Our Blessing,” Ensign, August 2004, pp. 47-48
For much of his life Joseph F. Smith witnessed severe persecutions directed at the Church and its members. He was repeatedly harassed by those who opposed the work of the Lord and His Church, and he suffered greatly at their hands. Despite this abuse, he went about his affairs peaceably, not fearing and rarely responding to his enemies – enemies whom he described as “not mine,” but “his whom I am trying to serve.” (Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. (1939), 271)
His daughter Edith Eleanor recalled a time from her youth when “the news media was really persecuting my father. Some of the people at school had in their possession false reports and lies about Father. I went home from school furious one day. As soon Father came in that evening I said to him, ‘Papa, why don’t you do something? You’re not doing one thing, and these mean men are taking advantage of you, printing all these lies, and you don’t do one thing about it!’” Her father looked at her and smiled and said, “‘Baby, don’t get upset. They are not hurting me one bit; they are only hurting themselves. Don’t you know, Baby, that when someone tells a lie they are only hurting themselves more than anyone else?’” (“Remembering Joseph F. Smith,” Ensign, June 1983, 22)
President Smith was intent on returning good for evil and was so determined to do good that if he learned he had offended another, he could not rest until the wounds were healed. He once said: “Have I done or said anything to hurt you? If I have, I want to say it has been unintentional. I never in my life intentionally hurt the feelings of any individual. . . . All ye that have been injured by me, all ye whom I have wronged, if there are any such, let me know wherein I have wronged you, and I will do all in my power to make it right with you. I have no malice in my heart toward my brethren. I have only love, charity and an earnest desire to do good.” (Deseret News: Semi-Weekly, 31 Mar. 1896, 9)
— Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith, pp. 257-58
