“Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” – Romans 12:19-21
Paul, in his letter to the Romans, quotes Solomon from Proverbs 25:21-22 when he writes verse 20. The only omission from Proverbs are the words “and the Lord will reward you” after the burning coals statement. There are many times in our lives that we want so badly to avenge ourselves with people who have wronged us. They come from all walks of life. They can be cruel, thoughtless, even heartless. They are the self-centered, self-absorbed, ‘me-first’ in the crowd of humanity who seem to think the world revolves around them. We are not to pity them or hate them, but rather be kind to them. This is God’s way of dealing with them. You see, God knows that this way will cause conviction that may drive them to repentance. If you treat them the way they have treated you, you are no different than they are and will galvanize their unbelief.
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” – Matthew 7:12
God has never said that this would be easy. Neither did He say the response of others would be what we seek. Some people absorb our kindness and go on. That’s alright. We are judged on our behavior, not the behavior of others. We are each responsible for our own actions and reactions. In all that we do, we must expect nothing in return. Not even a thank you. For our accolades shall come to us in heaven, but even that should not be the reason we do these things prescribed in Romans. We should do them because we believe them to be the right things to do. It is irrelevant what others do to us. In the end God repays for the hardness and hardship some have doled out to others. We need not concern ourselves with all that. Our grand mission should be to live life to please and honor God. If we do that, we will be inclined to do those things that bless others and bring blessing, peace and fulfillment to ourselves. God takes care of us so that we can help take care of those who cannot take care of themselves; God’s arms extended, if you will. In the end we shall receive jewels in our crown. But that is not the reason we do it either. We do it because God spoke it and therefore it is what is expected of us.
Walk with the King today and be a blessing!!
