“In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.”
This immediately follows and is paired with the teaching about doing kind things for your enemy when they are in need. The idea here is that the follower of God should be about compassion not revenge. I am wresting at a very deep level with what that means at an abstract level. Unless you live under a rock you are most likely aware of some horrific evil done by one group to another recently. Done to God’s clearly declared chosen people as a matter of fact. Upon learning of the unimaginable level of evil perpetrated on the vulnerable and innocent my emotions wanted to see those attacked turn the other groups home into a parking lot. Thankfully that is not and will not ever be my decision to make. I’m all but certain that the decision makers will not ask my opinion either. The power of this verse cannot be obfuscated by political and military decisions. This is about me and those I walk with in my small world. The truth here goes deep into my core and must result in Christlike transformation. Jesus, wrongly accused, tried, beaten and nailed to a tree, uttered the words, “Father forgive them”. Stephen, being wrongly stoned to death a brief time later, uttered the same words to God on his murders behalf. A glimpse of eternity is seen in the now famous quote, “The Apostle Paul entered heaven to the cheers of those he martyred. That’s how the Gospel works.” Everything, every single thing, gets turned on its head in the eternal Kingdom of God. Today let’s live that reality and watch God work. #BeTheEdge
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9 NIV
