Moving from Bitterness to Love
Revenge is Mine
"There are two courses of action to follow when one is bitten by a rattlesnake. One may, in anger, fear, or vengefulness, pursue the creature and kill it. Or he may make full haste to get the venom out of his system. If we pursue the latter course we will likely survive, but if we attempt to follow the former, we may not be around long enough to finish it."
- Brigham Young (Founder of the Church of Latter Day Saints)
Though we may not be of the same faith, I think the above quote has much wisdom to it.
Joseph’s will to forgive his brothers changed bitterness to love.
Forgive
But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
- Matthew 6:15
Matthew Henry Commentary
"We are taught to hate and dread sin while we hope for mercy, to distrust ourselves, to rely on the providence and grace of God to keep us from it, to be prepared to resist the tempter, and not to become tempters of others. Here is a promise, If you forgive, your heavenly Father will also forgive. We must forgive, as we hope to be forgiven. Those who desire to find mercy with God, must show mercy to their brethren. Christ came into the world as the great Peace-maker, not only to reconcile us to God, but one to another."
It is not easy to forgive, but continue to pray and trust in God to do His good work in your violator's heart. Give Jesus your burdens and sorrows. He understands what you have been through and are going through. Let the Holy Spirit fill your heart and let His peace and joy dwell in you. Do not let the offender control your thoughts and actions by provoking hatred from you. May we pray to our Heavenly Father to help us overcome foolish pride, resentment, and pettiness. May He help us to forgive and love, so we may be friends with our Savior, others, and ourselves.
On the other hand, it is necessary to point out that the forgiveness of sins should not be equated with tolerating evil. People will often misquote the verse "judge not lest ye be judged" to defend their beliefs.
Righteous Judgment
If we take the view that judging is completely and totally forbidden, then that would make the doctrinal and moral purity of the church impossible to maintain. This would violate other teachings and divine examples that Christ has revealed in His word (see: Matthew 7:15; John 5:30; 7:24). It would commit us to neutrality and that is the very opposite of the stance Christ wants us to take.
What many fail to realize is that Jesus taught, (in the same context of instructing us to "judge not") that we are given the right and responsibility to make judgments in order to help our fellow man with their problem of sin, provided we have first "remove the plank from our own eye." Jesus expects you to be able to see clearly, so that you can "remove the speck from your brother's eye" (Matthew 7:5). So there are judgments to be made, within ourselves, and of others.
But then, what judging is the Lord telling us not to practice? In our text, Jesus is forbidding the judging that is for the purpose of putting down others to exalt one's self. It is the habit of finding fault in others when really there are more faults within yourself. How can you expect to help a person with a few transgressions when you are overwhelmed with sin? Jesus simply teaches that in order to pass righteous judgment on another, we ought to first examine ourselves. Let us remove the plank in our eye. Then, and only then, can we see clearly to remove the speck in our brother's eye.
The teaching of Jesus in this passage is concerned with the attitude of a man, not a complete absence of our judgment. Christ is not permitting us to avoid making hard decisions or taking difficult stands. He is warning us not to have a bitter, hypercritical, faultfinding spirit. That is a haughty attitude God will not tolerate.
However, as God's children, although we must be cautious in our judgments concerning ourselves and others, we cannot ignore our Lord's commands that instruct us to make judgments. In John 7:24, Jesus said "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment".
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