A Flow of Good Words...
Remember what
Jesus said? He who is without sin cast the first stone? And also in the
scriptures it speaks of heaping hot coals over people's heads when you bless
them when they've wronged you. (Prov. 25:22 KJV).
"If your
enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
if he is thirsty, give him water to
drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the Lord will reward you."
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the Lord will reward you."
The passage about coals is about the emotional
discomfort an 'enemy' will feel when you waken his conscience about his conduct
toward you. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia1 (remember
this is Hebrew, OT):
The word "coal" is often used in a
metaphorical sense: 2 Samuel 14: 7 speaks of the "quenching of the
coal" of a man, meaning the complete annihilation of his issue; while in
Proverbs 25:22 kindness bestowed upon an enemy is called "heaping coals of
fire upon his head," since it tends to waken his deadened conscience and
help him to realize his wrong. It's comparing the smoldering and easily roused
passion of the godless man to the coal that is easily lighted and breaks forth
into flame.
The picture of putting coals on a person's head
initially sounds like a picture of causing burning pain, but it really is not.
Instead, it seems to be a picture of stirring up the coals of a fire to rouse
it back to life again. It is a picture of stirring within a person a response
of remorse, when they see your kindness in the face of their meanness. This
must also be the sense of Paul's passage - we cause our enemies to be remorseful
for their actions toward us, and in doing so we overcome evil by doing good.
Vile,
judgmental, unkind, negative words that do not edify are like meteors being
spoken against a person, hurled at them with fiery venom. This ought not be so
for us believers.
To the
Romans, Paul wrote referring back to Proverbs 25, "Do not repay
anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of
everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you,
live at peace with everyone. 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." Rom 12: 17-21 NIV.
And Peter
says, "Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic,
love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with
evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with
blessing, because to this you were called so that you may
inherit a blessing." I Peter 3:8-9 NIV.
The
scriptures are clear. The way of the Lord is clear. He is basically telling us
that our ability - or our lack thereof - to bless, to love, to forgive, to
refrain from retaliation, will have a “ripple effect” for good or evil to those
around us, both in the Body of Christ and in the whole world. Every evil
work we see began as an unrighteous decision made by an individual unrenewed
heart. This is not the case with us believers. Jesus lived a different life and
He is our example.
“The
transformation of the world into a place of peace and righteousness can only be
a work of divine grace, a work that begins in the hearts of people who refuse
to repay evil for evil, and who choose to overcome evil with good.” 2
As He is so
are we in this world. 3
2 anonymous
blogger
3 I John 4:17
Wonderful! I never thought about it that way, that the coals were there to stir up what is dead in his/her heart. I always thought it would just make them angry, you know that saying "kill them with kindness". I have been in many situations where people are rude, all you simply need to do is stay calm and pleasant and 9 times out of 10 they will turn their attitude around. I think the quilt gets to them. lol
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