Judging and Forgiveness

Throughout my day, in different ways, God has been speaking into my life about forgiveness and judging people. From the sermon at church today, to the theme Shine FM was doing, to what Mike Love spoke at tonight at the BlueTree concert... Forgiveness and the price of judging others has been spoken into my life. I know for me... I have been deeply hurt before and struggled with it and accepting what the other person had done. I realize now that I am able to forgive them, because God forgives me. Who am I to judge their choices when they are on their own journey with their faith?
Luke 6:37-42 " "Do not Judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." "
Matthew 7:1-2 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

Who are we to say how bad their actions were? Or say because of those actions, they are this sort of person or that sort of person. Who are we to say they aren't good enough by their pasts? Look at Paul! He was a murderer and yet God chose to use him in a mighty way. What's to say the people who made mistakes then, won't be the biggest lights for God now? Remember sin is sin. God will judge us on ALL our sins doesn't matter how good we see ourselves. Judging others is a sin... so do not condemn another person for some mistake they made when you make mistakes yourselves. We all are growing and it sometimes takes mistakes to place us in the right path.
As for forgiveness... the friends that I have had hurt me, have come to me after and have asked me for forgiveness. Even though I was hurt, I forgive them. The Bible says in Matthew 18:21-23, "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."" We are called to forgive them when they ask for it. If God can forgive us all the sins we have committed against Him, we can forgive those who wrong us. Forgiving doesn't mean you have to forget, it just means we step past that hurt in our relationship and grow and learn from it.

This is a huge thing, and takes time to learn how to do. So I encourage you to grow and search and find out more on what it means to forgive and not judge.

I am saved because God forgave me!

Blessings,
Breanna