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Bible, christianity, faith, forgiveness, god, Jesus, Peace, persecutor, reconcile, reconciliation, resentment, victim
We have all been wronged in life. Oftentimes, as victims, we feel justified in withholding forgiveness, peace, and reconciliation with our persecutors. Jesus overcame sin, death, and all infirmities, sorrows, and griefs (Isaiah 53:4-5,11). He not only took upon Himself the horrors of sorrows and regrets of persecutors, but also the righteous anger of the victims. He overcame both so that He could succor both. And He expects both the persecutor and the victim to become reconciled, especially if we as victims expect to be forgiven by Jesus of the persecutions which we sinners have heaped upon Him and the least of His children throughout our lives.
Jesus bled from every pore in Gethsemane, suffering all the evils of the world. He knew the hearts of those who would kill Him. Before confronting their condemnation of Him in the flesh, He suffered their torment of mind when they recognized He was the Lord, and then found peace for what they would do by rejecting Him. In this extremity there was madness itself as He mirrored the evil which would destroy Him, and learned how to come to peace with the Father after killing the Son of God, and to love all those involved without restraint and without pretense even before they did these terrible deeds. His suffering, therefore, encompassed all that has happened, all that did happen, and all that would happen in the future.
The word “resentment” traces back to the early 1600s, rooted in the Latin “sentire” (to feel). It entered the English language from Middle French, and literally translates to “feeling again” with the prefix “re”. Every time we relive offenses committed against us, we rob ourselves of the peace of Christ as well as His own forgiveness, for if we expect to be forgiven, we must likewise forgive. In heaven, all are reconciled with and aligned with Jesus Christ. If any of us expects to be aligned with Him, we must become aligned with and reconciled with each other as each of us desire to align with Him. This applies to both persecutor and victim.
Each of us must shed the “right” to withhold forgiveness. “If you do not accuse each other, God will not accuse you. If you have no accuser you will enter heaven, and if you will follow the revelations and instructions which God gives you through me, I will take you into heaven as my back load. If you will not accuse me, I will not accuse you. If you will throw a cloak of charity over my sins, I will over yours—for charity covereth a multitude of sins.”–Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 4:445.
We ought to throw cloaks of charity over one another and offer peace and forgiveness to one another. Furthermore, if anyone has something against you, Jesus forbids you from approaching His altar with an offering, or as we read:
Matthew 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
You cannot today rightly offer up a broken heart and a contrite spirit if you have wronged someone. If someone has something against you, don’t expect to find the peace of Jesus. Jesus suffered for both persecutor and victim and expects both to be reconciled before they can become reconciled with Him, to reiterate. If any of us in our pride refuses to forgive as victims and “relive” the wrongs heaped upon us, we place that resentment upon the shelf of our hearts as idols that stand between us and God. Holding a grudge is like drinking poison, hoping it will kill the other person. You are just killing your own soul and destroying your own peace. Let go today. Reach out and offer sincere apologies and peace to those whom you have wronged. Reach out and offer sincere forgiveness and peace to those who have wronged you. Let Jesus heal you and find peace.
Latter-day Lamanite 