What a strange and exotic principle! Feed our enemies? Give water to those who hate us? Certainly this teaching is not from below, but from above! This is the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of free grace, the formula that transforms inveterate enemies into faithful friends.
These coals of fire are not coals of judgment, but coals of grace by which the hearts of our enemies our melted and won. Our Savior preached this doctrine with great clarity in his Sermon on the Mount when He said, "You have heard that it was said: You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Matthew 5:43-44.
Nothing is more contrary to the flesh than exercising kindness and love toward those who hate us, but if we would honor our Savior and subdue our enemies, we dare not resort to the sinful practice of revenge. We must conquer the hearts of our enemy's the same way that Christ conquered our hearts by relentlessly heaving the coals of unmerited grace upon their heads.
[Frank Hall]
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Proverbs 25:21-22 ... If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee.
Luke 6:35 ... But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
Romans 12:20 ... Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.❤
