If your enemies are hungry, give them bread to eat;
and if they are thirsty, give them water to drink;
for you will heap coals of fire on their heads,
and the Lord will reward you.
Proverbs 25:21-22
A week or so ago, when I was reflecting on Proverbs 25, I just ran out of time before I could comment on this passage. And I had to come back to it.
I would like to think that I am such a good and godly person that I would be kind to my enemies as well as my friends. But that isn’t always the case. (Let’s be real, it is rarely the case. I’m not that good a person.) This Proverbs gives me another motivation to treat “my enemies” with kindness — in doing do I can add to their torment. That plays to my more sinister side.
If I feed my enemies
(as Jesus might have suggested I should behave if I was his disciple)
AND if I give my thirsty enemies as cup of cold water to drink
(again as I remember Jesus telling those who followed in his footsteps to do)
it will seem to my enemies like I am heaping burning coals on their head. I would gladly do that for my enemies, and they will get the food and water they need.
Everyone wins.
Prayer
Dear God, work with me however You must so that the compassion You crave is acted out in Your world. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen
