View source for 20. NOT RETALIATING

====20. NOT RETALIATING====


<p> &quot;Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.&quot;<br><br>
        &quot;When they hurled their insults at Him — He    did not retaliate; when He suffered — He made no threats. Instead, He    entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly!&quot; — 1 Peter    2:23.<br><br>
        What a common dictate of the fallen and    unregenerate heart — to resent and recriminate! How alien to natural feeling    — to answer cutting taunts, and meet unmerited wrong, with the Divine method    the Gospel prescribes, &quot;Overcome evil with good!&quot; It was in the    closing scenes of the Saviour's humiliation, when silent, and unresenting, He    stood &quot;silent before His shearers,&quot; that this beautiful feature in    his character was most wondrously manifested; but it beams forth also for our    imitation in the ordinary and less prominent incidents of His pilgrimage.<br><br>
        When He met&nbsp;<em>Nathanael</em><em>&nbsp;</em>of    Cana in Galilee, He found him clinging to an unreasonable prejudice —    &quot;Can any good thing come out of&nbsp;<em>Nazareth</em><em>?&quot;</em>&nbsp;The    severe remark is allowed to pass unnoticed. Overlooking the unkind    insinuation, the Saviour fixes on the favourable feature of his character,    &quot;Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!&quot;<br><br>
        After His resurrection, He appears to His    disciples. They were cowering in shame, half afraid to confront the glance    of&nbsp;<em>injured goodness</em>. He breathes on them, and says, &quot;Peace    be unto you!&quot; — Peter was the one of all the rest who had most reason to    dread estranged looks and upbraiding words; but a special message is sent to    reassure that trembling disciple, that there was no alienation in the    unresentful Heart he had secretly wounded — &quot;Go and tell the disciples    —&nbsp;<em>and Peter!&quot;</em><br><br>
        Even when&nbsp;<em>Judas&nbsp;</em>first unveiled    himself to his Lord as the&nbsp;<em>betrayer</em>, we believe it was not in    bitter irony or rebuke — but in the fullness of pitying tenderness, that Jesus addressed him,&nbsp;<em>&quot;Friend</em>, why    have you come?&quot;<br><br>
        Tears and prayers were His only revenge on Jerusalem — the city    and scene of His murder. &quot;Beginning at Jerusalem,&quot; was the closing    illustration of a spirit &quot;not of this world&quot; — a significant    parting testimony that in the bosom that uttered it —<em>retaliation&nbsp;</em>had    no place.<br><br>
        More than one of the disciples seem to have    imbibed much of this &quot;mind&quot; of their Lord. &quot;They stoned&nbsp;<em>Stephen</em>. Then he fell on his knees and cried    out —&nbsp;<em>Lord, do not hold this sin against them!&quot;</em><br><br>
        Take another example — The great Apostle of the    Gentiles felt himself under a painful necessity faithfully to rebuke Peter in presence of the whole Church. He had&nbsp;<em>recorded&nbsp;</em>that    rebuke, too, in one of his epistles. It was thus to be handed down to every    age as a permanent and humiliating evidence of the&nbsp;<em>wavering    inconstancy&nbsp;</em>of his fellow-laborer. Peter,    doubtless, must have felt acutely the severity of the chastisement. Does he    resent it? He, too, puts on record, long after, in one of his own epistles, a    sentence regarding his rebuker — but it is this — &quot;Our&nbsp;<em>beloved    brother&nbsp;</em>Paul!&quot;<br><br>
        Reader! when tempted to utter the harsh word, or    give the cutting or hasty answer — seek to check yourself with the question,    &quot;Is this the reply my Saviour would have given?&quot; If your fellow-men    should prove unkind, inconsiderate, ungrateful — be it yours to refer the    cause to God. Speak of the faults of others only in&nbsp;<em>prayer;</em>&nbsp;manifesting    more sorrow for their sin — than for the evil inflicted by them on    yourselves.<em>&nbsp;Retaliate!&nbsp;</em>No such word should have a place in    the Christian's vocabulary.<em> Retaliate!&nbsp;</em>If I cherish such a spirit    towards my brother — how can I meet that brother in heaven? &quot;But you    have not so learned Christ.&quot;<br><br>
        &quot;Arm yourselves likewise with the same    mind.&quot;</p>
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