Imagine yourself in the first day of class
that everyone in your school must pass in order to graduate. The professor
stands up and announces that your only assignment is a research paper. However,
this is no ordinary paper. The professor declares that he will randomly collect
a few papers each class period until the end of the semester. Additionally, he
expects each paper to be as good as the next, regardless of when it was
collected.
As
the students mutter amongst themselves, the professor calls your attention to
his teaching assistant. He introduces him to the class and proceeds to tell
you, “This is my TA. He understands my expectations for these papers better
than anyone. His sole purpose is to help you. He is available to all of you any
time, any day. I promise each of you that if you work closely with the TA you
will get an A. Likewise, if you don’t work with him, it will be impossible to
pass this course.”
Now
consider one of the students in this class. He decides that the professor can’t
possibly mean to carry the threat of randomly collecting papers throughout the
semester. Nor does he believe that he needs the TA’s help. So, he determines to
write the paper by himself at the end of the semester. Lo and behold, after
just two weeks of class the professor approaches this student and asks him to
turn in his paper. Having nothing to turn in, the professor has no choice but
to fail this student.
Another
student takes the professor seriously and begins to work on the
assignment. He goes regularly to the TA.
The student develops a close relationship with the TA as the paper takes shape. Eventually, the day comes when the professor
wants the student to turn his paper. Unfortunately, this is the only day that
the student is found sick at home rather than in class. The professor moves to
write an F by the student’s name, but the TA quickly intervenes. He explains to
the professor how the student worked tirelessly with him to meet the
expectations of the professor. The TA vouches for the quality of the paper and
the amount of effort put into it. Without ever reading the paper, the professor
quietly writes an A in place of the F. He does this based solely on the TA’s
testimony on behalf of the sick student.
Hopefully
it’s easy to see who is who in this story. The professor is our Heavenly Father
with Christ as his TA, while we are the students. Just like the students at
this school who are required to take the class, no man or woman on Earth is
exempt from the judgments of God. Also like the students in the story, none of
us know when Heavenly Father is going to ask us to turn in our papers for grading.
Another similarity, it is literally impossible for us to attain a passing grade
without the help of Christ. The way in which TA speaks for the student is the
same way Christ will speak for us at judgment.
If we have worked with him to follow the commandments of God, we will
receive mercy.
But
why do we require the mercy of God? In Alma 42:22 we read, “But there is a law
given, and a punishment affixed…” The law referred to is often called the law
of justice. In short, the law of justice can be described as all the
commandments that our Heavenly Father has set forth for us to obey. The Savior
commanded us to, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in
heaven is perfect,”(Matt. 5:48). As we are aware, this is impossible for any
man, save Christ, to accomplish on his own. So, we are all held in violation of
the law, and justice demands that we pay the price for our sins. This price, in
my opinion, is to be denied entrance to the celestial kingdom, deprived of the
presence of our Heavenly Father and the accompanying happiness. However,
Heavenly Father wants all his
children to return to Him, so that we can have the same joy He has. So, God
provided a way for justice to be satisfied and for us to return to him. He gave
the Son, Jesus Christ to atone for all of our sins.
Through
the atonement, Christ, a perfect person over whom justice had no claim, paid
the price that was required for all the sins of all mankind. Each and every one
of us has had our fines paid in full by our Savior. Returning to Alma 42:22,
“But there is a law given, and a punishment affixed, and a repentance granted;
which repentance mercy claimeth; otherwise, justice claimeth the creature and
executeth the law…” and then in verse 25, “What, do ye suppose that mercy can
rob justice? I say unto you, Nay; not one whit. If so, God would cease to be
God.”
There
are two things I would like to point out about these verses. Firstly, we don’t
claim mercy. Mercy claims us. There is never ever a point in our lives when we
get to say either for ourselves or for someone else that we’ve done everything
we can and now it’s mercy’s turn. It simply doesn’t work that way. The second
thing is that we qualify to obtain mercy through repentance. We must be truly repentant
in order for mercy to take effect in our lives. Just like justice, obtaining
mercy also has its requirements. The second student fulfilled the professor’s
requirements by regularly working with the TA. We too must work regularly,
daily, with the Savior to better ourselves. We do this by studying the
scriptures, praying often, happily attending church, all those primary answers.
If we do those things the Savior will help us see where we are lacking. It is
so extremely true that it is only through Christ’s sacrifice that we are
enabled to enter the presence of Heavenly Father; he did not eliminate our
personal responsibility to do everything we can to be eligible to be claimed by
mercy.
Which
brings us back to repentance. Simply put, repentance is how we obtain
forgiveness for our sins from Heavenly Father. When we truly repent, Heavenly
Father forgets our sins. I like to think
that there are two levels of forgiveness. One level is the forgiveness that
occurs between two people.
In
Matthew 6:14-15 we learn, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your
heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men trespasses,
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” And in Doctrine and
Covenants 64:9, “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 in case there is any doubt
remaining, we turn to Mosiah 26:31, “And ye shall also forgive one another your
trespasses; for verily I say unto you, he that forgiveth not his neighbor’s
trespasses when he says that he repents, the same hath brought himself under
condemnation.”
So,
what do we know now about forgiving our fellow men? First of all, we learn that
we are in fact commanded to forgive absolutely everyone. Second, this
forgiveness is not necessarily predicated on their repentance. In Mosiah, we
were told that once someone approaches us with an apology, regardless of his or
her sincerity, we are responsible for forgiving that person. It is not our job
to judge other people’s worthiness. It isn’t for us to declare whether another
person has actually repented. And it certainly isn’t for us to withhold
forgiveness when we don’t think they’re actually sorry. When we withhold our
forgiveness, we are making it impossible for us to receive forgiveness from our
Heavenly Father. This means that we are unable to complete the repentance
process for our own sins, and thus means we have removed ourselves from the
hands of mercy and directly into the hands of justice. And I’m sorry, but
that’s just stupid. Not only does refusing to forgive a friend, family member,
ex-girlfriend/boyfriend, or church leader have zero influence on their ability to repent, but it ruins
any chances you have at receiving forgiveness for yourself.
Besides
depriving ourselves of the ability to fully repent, holding a grudge is not
Christ-like. In Matthew 22:36-39 we learn that the first and great commandment
is to “…love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind.” Then, Christ teaches us, “And the second is like unto it,
thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” If you are holding a grudge against
someone, you are not giving that person the love they need and deserve.
Withholding forgiveness is not an effective method of parenting. Withholding
forgiveness destroys all kinds of relationships. It simply isn’t an option.
The
second level of forgiveness takes place between you and God.
This forgiveness punctuates the end of the
repentance process. In Isaiah 1:18 we read, “Come now, and let us reason
together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” I just
love the beginning of this verse, “Come now, and let us reason together.” Doesn’t that just sound so
comforting? It shows that even though Heavenly Father is disappointed when we
sin, He wants us to go to Him in prayer and talk it out. He wants to work with
us each step of the way.
Furthermore,
he wants to forget our sins. In Ezekiel 18:22 we are told, “All his
transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in
his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.” Once we have repented and
been forgiven, that’s the end of it. Our guilt is taken away, and at the
judgment seat mercy will claim us “for her own.” The sins we repented of will never
be mentioned. Isn’t it wonderful to know that we have the chance to make our
mistakes so much a part of the past; even the Creator and our Lord will not
remember them?
This
is the joy brought by a testimony of the gospel; that with Christ nothing can
stop us from regaining the presence of our Heavenly Father. He will direct us,
support us, and carry our burdens. At the last day we can stand pure before the
Lord.
