“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.” This is quoted in Romans 12.20, so some of you may recognize it from there. Here’s the point: This is one of the pinnacles of spiritual maturity and Godlikeness. It’s where your regard for the well-being of any other human supersedes your relationship to him and gives no regard to how he treats you or what he is to you. It’s where you don’t think of yourself at all, but only regarding the interests of another as more important than your own, showing care for their needs, whether through evangelistic motives or just a “so loved the world” heart.
But there’s a really fine line here between acting like this and being a schmuck, just as there is a fine line between being just and being a jerk. Jesus and Paul gives us many fine examples of how to walk that line, but it’s so difficult to navigate successfully all the time.
David Wilcox said it better than I ever could.
Fearless Love
By David Wilcox
Fearless love, fearless love
Fearless love makes you cross the border
At your church they asked for volunteers
To make a presence in the park
That’s where the wicked planned to demonstrate
And carry signs to set a spark
Someone behind you heaved a stone
That struck the thin man behind his ear
So now there’s blood upon his sign
Which read “There’s nothing here to fear”
“The wrath of God,” somebody yelled,
“Will punish all of those like him”
But if you travel back 2000 years
I swear you’d hear this all again
Back then they’d say
“These soldiers walk on sacred ground
This land’s our history and our home
They have no right to be around
They are the evil force of Rome
So just how strong this change of heart must be
That one that Jesus once described
Kindness to your enemy
Carry his pack an extra mile
Chorus:
Fearless love, fearless love
Fearless love makes you cross the border
Your mind snaps back to where you stand
Your church is here to fight a cause
And at your feet a fallen man
Whose head is cradled in his arms
Though his blood contains his death
And though the lines are drawn in hate
You drop your sign of Bible verse
And help the wounded stand up straight
Chorus Oh yes the high religious still will scorn
Just like that did all that time back
They’ll say you helped the other side
They saw you haul that soldier’s pack
But now how could you carry that man’s sign
In your heart the choice was clear
You didn’t join the other side
The battle lines just disappeared
Fearless love makes you cross the border