Love them

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

LOVE THEM

Prov 25:21-22

21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. 22 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.

NIV

Clearly we are going to have some enemies. There is no question that Satan is the enemy of our soul. He brings temptation after temptation to lure us into yielding to them in order that he can separate us from God through our sin. But we know nothing can separate us from the love of God. Jesus took all our sin, past, present and future on himself when he was on that cross. Of course we do not go around looking for ways to sin, but it just happens and even then God does not forsake us or throw us away. But here this proverb is speaking about earthy or worldly enemies. People who hate us. People who reject Jesus and all that he stands for and persecute us because of our faith. We who live in America certainly do not experience the type of persecution some believers go through, even onto death, in other parts of the world. Although there has been killings of Christians here in our country from time to time. Madmen, filled with hatred, stepping into churches shooting as many as they can. But in those cases it is almost impossible, especially for those who were killed, to feed their enemy or give him a cup of cold water and thus heap coals on his head. So these enemies spoken about here are everyday people we come into contact on a regular basis, but have a certain dislike for God and hate to hear anything about him because they enjoy their lifestyle and do not want any guilt associated with it. It simply shows they know what is right and wrong and do not want to change. But that does not mean we abandon them, ignoring them, not being friends with them. That is what giving them food if they are hungry or water if thirsty means. Of course we could see this in a spiritual sense, the food being the word of God, and the water being the living water that spring forth or flows from within us due to the Spirits indwelling. Just as God provided manna from heaven and water from a rock for the children of Israel, we can provide for those who are not currently following God. Being a friend to sinners, being there giving to them when in need. They may be enemies of ours, but not really, they are enemies toward God, and we can show them the love of God by being there for them in their time of need. Whether we see the results or not, God sees our love toward them, and we are being obedient to him by loving them, so he rewards us. How he rewards us can be in various ways, we are not told specifics of his reward. But the fact remains God does reward us somehow, just for doing what we are supposed to do, love them.