If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.
Proverbs 25:21–22, ESV
These words are echoed throughout Scripture, from Moses to Jesus to Paul, and everywhere are morsels left between. These words remind us of how contrary we are meant to be when compared to the ways of the world. We see how divided our world is becoming and the anger that is constantly seething below the surface, which then erupts like a volcano destroying everything in its path. We seem to be seeing others less and attacking ideas that are catching up people in the tempest that is created. A storm that is unleashed of rage, hate, and vitriol that is taking lives with it. When anger fills our hearts, we lose sight of the fact that the people before us are all bearers of the image of God. This is why the writer of Proverbs writes these words, and Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for them. It pauses our anger, and before us, we see the person before us. We take ourselves out of the war and bring ourselves into a place of peace. We no longer act like a soldier and seek to be a healer. Again, we are reminded of this when we are told we are not at war with flesh and blood but rulers, authorities, and the like. We are called to battle against the ideas that are not of God but not the people to whom we are meant to carry the message of hope. When we see their suffering, we are to provide them comfort and carry with us the Word of hope that stands eternal that they may too know eternity with our Lord instead of being locked outside in eternal darkness weeping and gnashing their teeth. Our reward may be the winning of a brother or sister entering into the glory of our Lord alongside us.
Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.