DO GOOD TO THE EVIL?

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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.

Proverbs 25:21-22      

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

There are many things that are certain in life, experiences that everyone will go through unless you live under a rock somewhere and never come out. One such thing is experiencing someone doing wrong to us at least once but more probably many times over through the course of a lifetime.

We live in a broken world full of sinners who are innately predisposed to rebel against God and do wicked, evil things. We certainly don’t want to admit we’re like this but we are. I believe this is one thing that elevates our joy when we consider the eternal hope and life we have in Jesus for at the day we go to be with God the Father and Jesus His Son we will be liberated from the sin affliction we struggle with in our worldly existence. I know I can’t wait for that day myself.

But I (we) are not there yet. We’re still in the midst of this life where we will wrong and be wronged. Responding to our own sinfulness is as easy as repenting and asking the Lord to help give us the strength and wisdom to move us from wickedness to righteousness. This is a fundamental expectation that believers should be familiar with. How we deal with those who sin against us doesn’t seem to be as easy when we’re in the midst or aftermath of being violated even though the scriptures are just as clear on what we’re to do in those instances as they are on how we should deal with our own transgressions.

One such excerpt from the scriptures is today’s proverb, two verses from Proverbs, Chapter 25 that give us clear direction on how we’re to respond to those who do evil against us. Look at these words:

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. Proverbs 25:21-22

The message from the word of God is simple. We are to bless the malevolent, those who willingly choose to do something malicious against us.

What? Do good to the evil?

This just doesn’t compute, does it? Why would we ever want to do good to someone who has treated us badly?

We think this way because the world thinks this way and we are in the world. We are polluted by the world’s views and attitudes, views and attitudes that would have us wish for bad to happen to bad people, views and attitudes that would encourage us to get even and do badly unto someone who has treated us badly. It’s the old eye for an eye theory.

Thanks be to God that His ways are in no way like the world’s ways and the way He calls for us to deal with our enemy is to shower them with kindness, not judgment.

But why would we want to do this?

Let’s look at two reasons by breaking down verse 22:

1. You will heap burning coals on his head

A person who does wrong to you would fully expect you to take some vengeful action against them. Reciprocation of evil for evil would not be surprising but show goodness to someone who has harmed you and you will respond in a totally unexpected way, a way that would hopefully cause the wicked to stop and ponder the matter at hand. It’s during this pondering about how they had wronged someone who reflected nothing but love and caring in return that brings burning coals upon their heads, coals that convict and lead a person onto the road of repentance. In other words, the one who did wrong comes to grips with the wrongs of their ways and not only seeks to make amends with the one they offended but more importantly, the God who is their only rightful Judge.

How we respond to what people do to us can make all the difference when it comes to being a part of the Lord’s convicting and reforming work in the hearts if sinners like you and me.

This leads to the second reason we want to do good to the evil.

2. The Lord will reward you

The main reason we are to do good to those who have wronged us is because God tells us to. That’s all we need to remember. God said it and we are to do it. Period. There is no debating God on His orders and expectations. There is only to be obedient response.

When we do this, when we obediently comply with the Lord’s word, then we live in a way that pleases Him and find ourselves in His favor and the associated blessings it brings.

In other words, we find ourselves just in the place that the Lord wants us to be and we got there by loving our enemies as he commanded.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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