How to NOT become Hitler.

    Sometimes I can be judgmental.  Actually, I am judgmental most of the time.  It’s not easy for me to not be judgmental; honestly it’s very easy, it’s second nature.  Within my judgment I create the ability to be more than judgmental, I create the space for bitterness, envy, anger, hate, jealousy, and just about any other similar emotion or thought you could think of.  That’s what judgment does; it creates room for something greater.  Think of a courtroom and the judgment passed out by a jury or a judge.  Their decision, or judgment, creates more room for either freedom or captivity.

    Judgment stems from some form of insecurity.  Conscientiously or not, I have a bit of insecurity inside of me and it plays itself out in my judgment of the people in my environment.  Everyone deals with insecurity and judging others to some degree.  However, insecurity and judgment, when left out of check, can breed all those feelings and issues mentioned above; hate, anger bitterness, etc.

    From what I remember of my world history classes in school, Hitler was a very angry man.  Obviously we all know the horrific atrocities committed by Hitler and the Nazi party.  It’s easy to say that Hitler was very simply an evil man.  Don’t misunderstand what I am saying; I am in no way defending Hitler.  (I can’t believe I just wrote that sentence.)  Anyways, my memory tells me that Hitler wanted to become an artist one day.  He went to school and studied art.  He spent the next years working on his craft and one day believed he had a painting worthy of praise.  He decided to bring his piece to a local gallery where the curator laughed at him and sent him away telling him he was no good.

    He had worked so hard at his craft, his dreams and is desires were to be an accomplished artist and in one meeting his dreams and his years of work and study came crashing down.  What happens next in his life is where things turn horribly ugly. 

    Because of his hatred, his bitterness, his envy, his insecurity, and his anger, Hitler eventually murders millions of innocent people.  His hatred was sparked by this one encounter and given the time and fuel it needed, that spark turned into a massive flame that overtook a man and destroyed millions of lives.  I don’t believe Hitler was born as the evil person he became.  I think the evil took root when he allowed the insecurity and judgment and hatred to enter and breed.

    It is far too easy for anyone of us to become a person we were not meant to become when we allow our hurts and insecurities turn into judgment which can very easily lead to hatred, bitterness, anger, and strife.  I am not saying anyone of us has the ability to become the next Hitler.  I am saying that we have the ability to become something we were never created to become when we don’t check ourselves.

Some of the easiest ways to fuel our issues are to isolate and meditate.  When we become angry and bitter we often meditate on the encounter that caused us to become bitter, and angry, and hateful.  We play out the scenario in our minds and we talk to ourselves and imagine what we would say if the person were standing in the same room.  The other fuel is isolation.  We can become embarrassed or even more insecure and so we isolate ourselves from community and from familiar environments.  In our isolation we very easily add fuel to the fire of our bitterness.

    Don’t let bitterness, anger, hatred, judgment, and insecurity rob you of becoming who you are and who you were meant to be.  Don’t let isolation keep you from growing in community.  Forgive those who’ve hurt you no matter what the offense has been.  Move on with your life.  Extinguish the spark before it turns into a fire you cannot control.  Forgive. 

    Jesus told His disciples that if they walk into church and remember an offense they have against someone or an offense their brother has against them, they should walk out of the church right then and there, go find their brother and make restitution.  He told Peter, the most offensive man in the bible, to forgive those who hurt him 7 X 70.  In other words, always forgive.  There is NEVER a good enough reason to withhold forgiveness from ANYONE.

    Go ahead, pick up your phone and call the people in your life who’ve hurt you or those people you’ve hurt.  Find them and make restitution.  Allow forgiveness to take hold in your life.  Because we want the world to know us by the love we share with one another.