Bishop Keith Butler
Sep 30, 2023
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. (Romans 12:20)
Many Christians read this Scripture incorrectly. They get excited because Paul said to throw flaming hot coals on the heads of our enemies. The coals of fire Paul mentioned weren’t a painful experience, it was a beneficial thing neighbors would do for each other.
In Bible times, it was important to always have a fire going in your house. If you let it go out, it would take longer to cook food or be protected from the elements. For this reason, it was important to always keep at least some red coals burning in the hearth so someone could quickly kindle the next fire.
However, if your neighbor’s fire went out for any reason, instead of trying to light a new one yourself, you would take a bowl, usually carried on your head, to your neighbor and ask them for a coal or two. Friendly neighbors would put their coals on the head of the one who had “lost their fire” and help to rekindle the dead flame in that house.
Understand the illustration that Paul is using here. Many of the people who are antagonistic toward you is because their own fire has gone out. They are no longer passionate about God (if they once were) and have no drive for the things of God. Their fire is dead. In sowing into their life, and not repaying evil for evil, you allow the fire that you have for God to rekindle the fire in their life. They get to see faith in action through you.
When you extend a hand of generosity to your enemy, you're acting as God's instrument of grace. You're disrupting the cycle of negativity and hatred. Your acts of kindness serve as a powerful testament to God’s love and power working through you.
When someone comes around you with an attitude, decide to respond in faith and love. When someone is mean and difficult, decide today that you will respond with faith and love. When you do so, believe in faith that you are rekindling a fire that has long gone out in the person who has treated you wrongly.