DIVINE GIFT OF FORGIVENESS

INTRODUCTION
With my sacred call to serve in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints, I have felt an increased love for our Savior, Jesus Christ, and a greater
understanding of His love for men and women, young women and young men, and for children on
every continent, in every city and town, in every home and place of dwelling across the world.1 My
sincere hope is that through this book, The Divine Gift of Forgiveness, you will again feel, as you have
already felt, the priceless love your Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son have for you, and that
Their love will encourage you to move even more conscientiously toward Them.

God’s love knows no bounds.2 His eternal truths are the same for each of us, whoever we are or
wherever we live.3 Lasting happiness, peace, and eternal life come only through increasing our faith
and trust in our Heavenly Father and in His Son, Jesus Christ.

As our faith grows, our vision of why we are here becomes clearer and we seek additional
heavenly direction and approval.4 Our spirit desires to turn more consciously toward God and to
believe more deeply in the redeeming power of our Savior. We are saddened by our thoughts and
actions that are contrary to His loving commandments, and we diligently do all that we can to
correct our course.5 We pray with more intent, and we plead with our Heavenly Father for
forgiveness through the atoning grace of His Son. We begin to repent.

The blessing to repent is given to each of us by our Redeemer as part of the plan of salvation.6
But it is more than that. It is also a spiritual gift that strengthens our desire and decisions, allowing
us to await the heavenly grace of the Savior and to receive the miraculous gift of forgiveness.

I promise you that as surely as the sun will rise tomorrow, the Savior’s divine gifts of repentance
and of forgiveness, offered in the beauty of His encompassing love, are certain for those who come
unto Him with full purpose of heart. “Mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever
will come, him will I receive.”7

I have always appreciated the words attributed to the Jesuit philosopher Pierre Teilhard de
Chardin, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a
human experience.”8 The predictability of the physical laws of mortality, such as the consistency of
gravitational pull upon us, is well understood. However, as children far from our heavenly home,
sometimes less understood are God’s spiritual laws that bring purpose, order, and peace to this life,
and prepare us for the “glory, and salvation, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life”9 that
await us beyond the veil.

We may feel very little when reading a textbook about the law of gravity, but reading about Jesus
Christ and His teachings can have a powerful impact upon our soul. 10 The Apostle Paul explained,
“For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the
things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God . . . because they are spiritually discerned.” 11

The chapters that follow will attempt to enlarge your mind and spirit to the spiritual foundation,
sacred principles, and personal choices that allow the Savior’s incomparable gift of forgiveness to
give added purpose in your life. For us to truly progress in this life and to obtain eternal life in the
world to come, we must set aside the wisdom of this world and come humbly before God,
recognizing that sincerely repenting and humbly pleading for forgiveness are not simply options in
the buffet of admirable virtues.12

Repentance is not punishment or oppression. It is just the opposite. It is a wondrous gift from
God that will bring joy to the sorrowful and relief to the spiritually infirm.13 It is strong spiritual
medicine that brings healing to all who will embrace its power. As the Savior Himself so generously
enjoined, “Will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may
heal you?”14

Even if you feel like you are at the very bottom of life’s ladder, there is something you can do. You
can look up. If all you can manage is to simply lift your eyes to Him, you have done something in an
effort to return to Him. You will come to know that He “reaches [your] reaching.”15 You may have a
long climb, a steep climb, even a daunting climb, but looking up is an important step as you begin
your journey forward. The Savior said, “Look unto me in every thought; . . . Behold the wounds
which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet.” 16 More important than
where you are is the direction you face, and especially Whom you face.

The divine gift of forgiveness can never be earned; it can only be received. Yes, commandments
must be obeyed and ordinances observed to receive forgiveness, but personal effort, no matter how
great, pales in comparison to the cost of redemption. In fact, there is no comparison. Forgiveness is
a gift, and the only One who can give the gift is the Redeemer and Savior of the World, Jesus Christ. 17
He offers His priceless gift willingly to all those who turn to Him to receive it. 18 As President Russell
M. Nelson has said, “[The Savior’s] Atonement [is able to] redeem every soul from the penalties of
personal transgression, on conditions that He [has] set.”19

This book is divided into six parts: First, a section entitled “Encouragement to Seek Forgiveness
from God”; next, “Why a Savior and Redeemer”; third, “The Incomparable Gift of Jesus Christ”;
fourth, “Finding Our Way to the Savior”; fifth, “Returning to the Redeemer through Repentance”;
and finally, a section entitled “The Savior’s Divine Gift of Forgiveness.” As you prayerfully read or
listen, open your heart to God with a prayer and a desire to believe. Faith is not developed by
chance, but by choice. Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Be not afraid, only believe.”20 And
to Thomas, He said, “Be not faithless, but believing.”21

In the pages that follow, each of the standard works of scripture is quoted. The Book of Mormon
is referenced extensively, as it teaches with such clarity the doctrine of the Savior’s Atonement, His
grace and mercy, and the promises of His forgiveness through our repentance. As I ponder these
sacred teachings of our Heavenly Father’s plan, powerfully presented in the Book of Mormon, I find
my spirit openly declaring, “Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah.”22 How remarkable
that the Lord would reveal the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ through His chosen vessel, the
Prophet Joseph Smith. Speaking a few weeks before he was martyred, he said, “I never told you I
was perfect—but there is no error in the revelations which I have taught.”23 I solemnly witness of the
divine mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Further confirming the teachings of holy scripture, I have intentionally included the words of each
prophet of this dispensation and the Apostles currently serving in the First Presidency and the
Quorum of the Twelve, as they are commissioned by the Lord to speak in His name of repentance
and forgiveness.

By design this book focuses on those “awakening” unto God,24 but the Savior’s gifts of repentance
and forgiveness are not only for times of major transgression but also for our daily progression. The
principles of repenting are a vital part of overcoming those daily sins of commission and omission, of
living and growing, and of worshiping each Sunday as we partake of the Lord’s sacrament.

My prayer is that as you open more completely your heart to God and thoughtfully consider the
principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ found in this book, you will be stirred with even greater
attention to the remarkable adventure of becoming a more devoted disciple of the Savior. Elder Neal
A. Maxwell explained, “If we choose . . . the course of discipleship, we will . . . move from what may
be initially a mere acknowledgment of Jesus on to admiration of Jesus, then on to adoration of Jesus,
and finally to emulation of Jesus. In that process of striving to become more like Him . . . we must be
in the posture of repentance.”25

I pray as did Alma: “May God grant unto you . . . that ye may begin to exercise your faith unto
repentance, that ye begin to call upon his holy name, that he would have mercy upon you; . . . For
behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; . . . And thus he shall bring salvation to
all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of [His] sacrifice, to bring about the
bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice . . . [and] I would exhort you to have patience . . . with
a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions.”26

Lasting happiness and joy come through faith in our Heavenly Father and in His Son, Jesus Christ.
They are the true source of pure love and everlasting peace.27 All that is good and beautiful, all that
is holy and sacred, comes from Them.28 Sin moves you away from Them; repentance moves you
toward Them; forgiveness refreshes your soul and confirms where you stand with Them.

The resurrected Savior declared, “No unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing
entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their
faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.”29

Let us rejoice in this journey! You can start from wherever you are and become something more
than you ever imagined. You have already begun. Ponder these words: “If ye will repent, and harden
not your hearts, then will I have mercy upon you, through mine Only Begotten Son . . . [and you]
shall have claim on mercy through mine Only Begotten Son, unto a remission of [your] sins; and
[you] shall enter into my rest.”30 As one of the Lord’s Apostles, I promise you that these words of our
Father are true, and as you embrace them in your life, the Savior will shape forever the divine
destiny awaiting you.
Notes

1. See, for example, 1 Nephi 11:17, 22; John 13:1; Revelation 1:5; Doctrine and Covenants 34:2–3.

2. See Romans 8:38–39.

3. See Acts 10:34–35.

4. See Abraham 1:2.

5. See Luke 18:13; Joseph Smith—History 1:28–29.

6. See 2 Nephi 2:21; Doctrine and Covenants 29:42–43.

7. 3 Nephi 9:14.

8. Attributed to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin by Robert J. Furgey, The Joy of Kindness (New York: Crossland,
1993), 138.

9. Doctrine and Covenants 128:23.

10. See, for example, Nehemiah 8:1–12; Matthew 7:24–28; John 4:1–42; Luke 4:16–22; Acts 8:27–38.

11. 1 Corinthians 2:11, 14.

12. See Isaiah 55:8–9; 11 Corinthians 2:6–7; 3:19.

13. See, for example, Psalm 35:9; Isaiah 61:10; Enos 1:3–4; Alma 36:20.

14. 3 Nephi 9:13.

15. “Where Can I Turn for Peace?,” Hymns, no. 129.

16. Doctrine and Covenants 6:36–37.

17. See Romans 5:1–12, especially 15–18; see also Romans 6:23; 22 Corinthians 9:15; Ephesians 2:8.

18. See Doctrine and Covenants 88:33.

19. Russell M. Nelson, “The Creation,” Ensign, May 2000.

20. Mark 5:36.

21. John 20:27.

22. “Praise to the Man,” Hymns, no. 27.

23. “Discourse, 12 May 1844, as Reported by Thomas Bullock,” p. 2, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed July 5,
2019, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/discourse-12-may-1844-as-reported-by-
thomas-bullock/2.

24. See Alma 5:7; Alma 7:22.

25. Neal A. Maxwell, “Testifying of the Great and Glorious Atonement,” from a Church satellite broadcast on
August 29, 1999, Ensign, October 2001.

26. Alma 34:17, 32, 15, 40–41.

27. See 1 John; Doctrine and Covenants 19:23; 59:23.

28. See Moroni 7:22.

29. 3 Nephi 27:19.

30. Alma 12:33–34.

ENCOURAGEMENT TO SEEK FORGIVENESS FROM GOD

Chapter 1

THE JOY OF BECOMING CLEAN

I remember my father awakening me one cold night in early February when I was about sixteen. I
remember feeling startled; I had only been asleep about an hour. He explained that a steer from our small
farm had gotten through the fence, wandered onto the highway, and been hit by a truck. The animal was
dead, and to save the meat we would have to act quickly. The task ahead would prove to be an experience I
could never forget.

After we dragged the steer from the road to an open shed with our old tractor, our next task was to hoist
the animal up. We tied its hind feet together and then threw the rope over a beam. I remember struggling to
get my arms under the animal’s hindquarters and lift as my father pulled. To lift with any effect required
wrapping my whole body around the slippery animal. By the time the body was hung, the mud and stench had
become ingrained in my clothes. I felt miserable, but our work had only begun.

Together my father and I cleaned the dead animal. We didn’t finish until about three in the morning. The
smell, the slime, the dirt, and the filth clung to me.

I went back to the house. Although it has been many decades, the events of the next hour are very vivid in
my mind. I remember clearly the satisfaction of removing my shirt. Peeling off each layer of clothing brought
relief. I began washing—first my hands, then my arms to the elbows. It was not the kind of dirt that would
disappear quickly. Then I showered, first washing the ears, then the hair, back to the hands and fingernails,
and to the hair again. It was some time before I felt satisfied that the cleansing was done.

Slipping into a clean pair of pajamas, I lay awake in bed for a while reliving the experience. It was four in the
morning. I was exhausted, but the feelings of tiredness did not approach the sensational satisfaction of being
washed and clean.

Yet as memorable as that experience was, there are wonderful feelings far surpassing the physical feelings I
felt on that cold winter night. I speak of marvelous spiritual feelings that come through the gift of the Savior’s
Atonement as the layers of sin are washed away and we come to feel spiritually clean.

Jesus taught forcefully of the joy of this redeeming power.1 One of His most poignant parables is that of
the prodigal son. Humbled by the emptiness of his “riotous living,” the son “came to himself.” 2 He realized his
wrong; he knew he must change. He said, “I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have
sinned against heaven, and before thee.”3 He was repenting.

The scriptures then report: “And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his
father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” 4

Do we understand our Heavenly Father’s anxiousness at our every effort to return to Him?5 Even when we
are still a great way off, He welcomes our return.

The Only Way to the Joy of Knowing Our Savior Jesus Christ
We experience joy as the love of our Savior assures us that we can yet be clean, that we will one day be
home again. This happiness comes only through repentance.6

As we leave wrongdoing behind and exercise faith in Jesus Christ, we receive a remission of our sins. We
sense that our Savior is doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Remember His words to the Nephites:

“Will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?

“Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is
extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto
me.”7

Remember Alma’s feelings as he felt his sin and guilt lifted:

“I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.

“And oh, what joy . . . ; yea, my soul was filled with joy. . . .

“Yea, I say unto you, . . . there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.” 8

This is the Savior’s promise to us. I know these feelings of joy. It is a happiness that can come in no other
way. Oh, to be clean!

While for some the process of repentance can happen dramatically, as it did for Alma, this is more the
exception than the rule.9 Most of us move step by step, inch by inch toward more goodness, more exactness
in our covenants, more service and commitment. President Ezra Taft Benson said: “For every Paul, for every
Enos, and for every King Lamoni, there are hundreds and thousands of people who find the process of
repentance much more subtle, much more imperceptible. Day by day they move closer to the Lord.” 10

Repentance is the perfect spiritual remedy for sin. Each sin we leave behind through our faith in the living
Christ—both those of commission and those of omission—opens spiritual doors. As we feel the potency of
repentance, we better understand why Christ admonished the early missionaries of this dispensation to “say
nothing but repentance unto this generation.”11

We must become converted to daily repentance. Jesus provided an example of daily prayer: “When ye pray
say . . . forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into
temptation; but deliver us from evil.”12 President Benson taught us that many of our troubles sprout from our
pride, which he defined as a selfish pitting of our will against God’s.13 We repent as we follow the Savior’s
example in doing “not as I will, but as thou wilt.”14 As we garner sufficient faith and trust to meekly surrender
ourselves to the Lord’s way, we are repenting.

As we garner sufficient faith and trust to meekly surrender ourselves to the Lord’s way, we are repenting.

Daily, as we are humble, the Lord will reveal our weaknesses to us. Remember this promise in the Book of
Mormon: “If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness.”15 As we seek earnestly to know
ourselves, to make honest assessments of what we are and of where we are, the Lord will reveal, in answer to
our prayers, where our repentance should be focused.

Honesty in our prayers to God allows us to more clearly hear His voice. In those times when we feel the
changes the Lord wants us to make, it is so easy to close the heavenly curtain and say, “I don’t want to do
that!” or to hide and discontinue our honest communication. Sometimes we rationalize that the feelings we
felt were not from the Lord.

Where do we begin, then, to assess ourselves truthfully?

As we honestly listen during our prayers, we will know what we need to do. Maybe it’s beginning to pray
earnestly again. Maybe it’s loving a spouse. Maybe it’s reducing our time with social media or controlling our
temper. Maybe it’s being honest at school or always telling the truth. Maybe it’s paying our tithing or sharing
more of what we have with others. Maybe it’s being more careful about wearing the temple garment. Maybe
it’s casting out our unbelief or finding more time to attend the temple.

As a prophet of God, President Harold B. Lee explained:

“The most important of all the commandments of God is that one that you’re having the most difficulty
keeping. . . . Today is the day for you to work . . . until you’ve been able to conquer that weakness. Then you
start on the next one that’s most difficult for you to keep.

“That’s the way to sanctify yourselves by keeping the commandments of God.” 16

To Be Spiritually Clean, the Challenge of Our Mortal Probation

If we wish to return to our Father, we absolutely must learn how to feel the power of our Savior’s
Atonement through the remission of our sins. Lovingly, the resurrected Christ told His disciples on the
American continent:

“No unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who
have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their
faithfulness unto the end.

“Therefore, if ye do these things blessed are ye, for ye shall be lifted up at the last day.”17

We may not always succeed as quickly as we would want, but as we make repentance a constant part of
our lives, miracles occur. This is what happens as we see that we really can overcome our sins: Our
“confidence [waxes] strong in the presence of God.”18 We kneel in humility before our Father. We tell Him
openly of our progress, and also of our fears and doubts. As we draw near to Him, He draws near to us. He
gives us peace and encouragement. He heals our souls.

We may not always succeed as quickly as we would want, but as we make repentance a constant part of our
lives, miracles occur.

As we continue inch by inch to repent, we determine that nothing will hold us back; we will do our part. We
come to feel like that great Lamanite king who cried, “Oh God, . . . wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and
I will give away all my sins to know thee.”19

With this commitment to who we can become, the spiritual doors swing open. There is a new freedom to
feel and to know, a freedom to become. Individual inspiration blossoms, and we receive compensatory
personal revelation to help us handle the temptations of an increasingly wicked world.

Oh, to have faith unto repentance! “May God grant unto you . . . that ye may begin to exercise your faith
unto repentance, that ye begin to call upon his holy name, that he would have mercy upon you.” 20

Oh, to be clean! This is the great challenge of our mortal probation. It is also the only way to the
indescribable joy of truly knowing our Savior. He has promised us, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall
see God.”21

President Boyd K. Packer penned these words,22 entitled “Washed Clean”:

In ancient times the cry “Unclean!”

Would warn of lepers near.

“Unclean! unclean!” the words rang out;

Then all drew back in fear,

Lest by the touch of lepers’ hands

They, too, would lepers be.

There was no cure in ancient times,

Just hopeless agony.

No soap, no balm, no medicine

Could stay disease or pain.

There was no salve, no cleansing bath

To make them well again.

But there was One, the record shows,

Whose touch could make them pure;

Could ease their awful suffering,

Their rotting flesh restore.

His coming long had been foretold.

Signs would precede His birth.

A Son of God to woman born,

With power to cleanse the earth.

The day He made ten lepers whole,

The day He made them clean,

Well symbolized His ministry

And what His life would mean.

However great that miracle,

This was not why He came.

He came to rescue every soul

From death, from sin, from shame.

For greater miracles, He said,

His servants yet would do,

To rescue every living soul,

Not just heal up the few.

Though we’re redeemed from mortal death,

We still can’t enter in

Unless we’re clean, cleansed every whit,

From every mortal sin.

Notes

1. See Mark 1:14–15, where we are introduced to the Savior’s basic message as He began His mortal ministry.

2. Luke 15:13, 17.

3. Luke 15:18.

4. Luke 15:20.

5. See Isaiah 30:18.

6. See, for example, Enos 1:2–8.

7. 3 Nephi 9:13–14.

8. Alma 36:19–21.

9. See Mosiah 27:8–31.

10. Ezra Taft Benson, “First Presidency Message: A Mighty Change of Heart,” Ensign, October 1989.

11. Doctrine and Covenants 6:9; 11:9; see also Doctrine and Covenants 19:21.

12. Luke 11:2, 4.

13. See Ezra Taft Benson, “Beware of Pride,” Ensign, May 1989.

14. Matthew 26:39.

15. Ether 12:27.

16. “Californians Hear President Lee,” Church News, May 5, 1973, 3.

17. 3 Nephi 27:19, 22.

18. Doctrine and Covenants 121:45.

19. Alma 22:18.

20. Alma 34:17.

21. Matthew 5:8.

22. oyd K. Packer, “Washed Clean,” Ensign, May 1997. President Packer was the President or Acting President
of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from 1994 to 2015.

Chapter 2

EXPERIENCES TO STRENGTHEN OUR RIGHTEOUS DESIRES

We learn from and are strengthened by the experiences of one another. The true stories that follow, from
children, youth, women, and men, remind us of the love of God for His children; the sadness, the suffering,
and the sorrow of sin; the readiness of our Heavenly Father to hear and respond to prayer; the joy in
repentance even for young children; the incalculable gift of forgiveness as the Savior lifts one’s burdens; and
the happiness in embracing the Savior’s invitation, “Come unto me.”1

While serving as a bishop, I received a phone call very early one morning that a man in his forties had
broken into the homes of several families in our ward during the night in a desperate search for prescription
drugs. He really traumatized several families as he went on a rampage through the houses. He fled into the
forest, and a police manhunt resulted in his capture.

I immediately drove to the home of one the families. There were numerous police cars and many police
officers there as the suspect was handcuffed. (I recognized the man. He had been staying with a family in the
ward for a few weeks to help him sort out his life.) I found the traumatized family quite distraught. After
comforting them for some time, I went to leave. I remember looking at this man who had caused such grief to
the wonderful families in the ward and thinking to myself, “How dare you come to our ward and terrorize
these wonderful families. I hope they lock you up and throw away the key.”

I drove home, and just as I was about to turn into my driveway, I heard a very distinct voice in my head that
said: “How dare you judge him. He is my son. Go back and tell him that his Heavenly Father loves him.”

I was completely startled by the power and overwhelming feeling of this manifestation. I had never in my
life felt such a distinct and powerful reprimand from heaven. I immediately hit my brakes and did a U-turn.

I introduced myself to the police officers as the man’s bishop. After ensuring that his handcuffs were
secure, they sat him down on the curb and I sat next to him as the police officers backed off to give us a little
privacy. This man, being high on drugs, had been yelling obscenities immediately before I sat down with him.
As I started speaking, he immediately calmed down as if the Spirit of the Lord had descended upon him. I
looked him in the eyes and said, “I have a message to deliver to you. I want you to know that our Heavenly
Father loves you.” I was quite surprised that he remained calm as I walked toward my car and drove away.

Months later, while I was visiting this man in jail, while separated by a wall of glass and on the phone, he
told me with tears in his eyes, “Bishop, I want you to know that I remember nothing from that fateful night
when I broke into those homes—except for one thing. I remember you looking into my eyes and telling me
that my Heavenly Father loves me—and that thought has been the only thing that has gotten me through
these last several months in jail.”