Of you it is required to forgive all men

Today I was reading D&C 64. It is another section that is packed full of wonderful blessings and principles. But today I reread one of my favorite scriptures in the D&C. And that is verses 9-11, which state:

"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. I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men. And ye ought to say in your hearts-let God judge between me and thee, and reward thee according to thy deeds."

So powerful. 

I used to wonder why I had to forgive everyone. Some people have done some really bad things. They shouldn't be forgiven for that. 

Then I was taught the principle behind the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:23-35. This parable was given by Christ to illustrate just why we need to forgive everyone, even the people who have done some serious sins.

The summary of this parable is that there is a man who owes a debt that would be impossible to repay. The debt fell due and the man was threatened to lose everything and go to prison until it was repaid. He begged for mercy. And the lender forgave it and sent him on his way. Now for a debt that in no way going to be repaid to be forgiven is astounding. 

When the debtor left the presence of the lender, he found someone who owed him a debt. Now this debt was measly and was next to nothing. Again mercy was pleaded, but this time it wasn't granted and the man was thrown in prison. 

The lender found out about the lack of mercy being extended and called the debtor back into his court. The lender explained that he granted mercy on this huge debt and that he was angry that it wasn't extended on this tiny debt. The mercy extended to the debtor was revoked and the man was thrown into prison.

When I was younger I thought that this was just a story of a guy who was dumb and didn't see the great blessing he received. Which is true. But there is so much more to it.

Each and every one of us owes a huge debt to the Lord. We have wronged him every time we sin and break a covenant. Needless to say, we sin daily and have removed ourself far from His presence. Whenever we repent of a sin, we are pleading for mercy on a debt that is absolutely enormous. And He grants it to us.

Now when someone wrongs us, it is small in comparison. I'm not trying to diminish the trouble and pain that you are going through, but I assure, we have done worse to the Lord. Now if He extends His mercy on a huge debt, shouldn't we extend mercy to a small debt? Or would we rather be thrown out of His presence forever?

Let me illustrate this with a personal example. When I was younger I was the queen of holding grudges. And that is nothing to be proud of. But I slowly learned to let things roll off my back. It was a hard road but I learned. My junior year in high school, evidence came to light that a man had severely wronged and hurt a member of my family. And it had been going on for years. I was there when all that had happened was reported to make action against him begin. 

It was so easy to be angry with him. All that happened made me sick to my stomach, and I didn't even fully understand what happened until a year and a half later. But I was so angry that someone could do something that horrific, let alone to a member of my family that I loved and cared for. My mom was there also and was experiencing the same struggles. A couple of days later we asked for a priesthood blessing. In that blessing my mom and I were both told to let the anger go and seek to give the best support throughout this trial. And that's exactly what I did. After that blessing I received the help to forgive him. I no longer hated him. In fact I felt sorrow for him and how little he knew that he thought that doing this action was okay. 

Now I don't profess to be perfect at forgiving. Because I am not. But I do know that it is possible to forgive others. Even the ones that do horrible things that seem unforgivable. "Ye ought to say- let God judge between me and thee and reward thee according to thy deeds." It isn't our place to hold anything against people. It is God that ultimately decides what it is that is forgivable and unforgivable. 

A much better example is this man:

It is possible. Release yourself of the pain and struggle to carry grudges. Be free and allow others to be free as well.