Thursday 14 Jan 2021

January 14: Proverbs 25:21-22
 
Key Verse: Proverbs 25:21
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
 
Devotion:
O how we like to berate our enemies or to embarrass them in the sight of others, but this is not God’s way! Jesus told things how they were; He called out those who were hiding behind acts which were not sincere, but He always held out a hand to His enemies! It is a difficult route to follow, but one which we need to strive for in our own lives.
 
I know many people justify their actions through the next verse which tells us how being kind will heap burning coals on the heads of our enemies. This is not meant as a justification for doing something good! God wants us to do good things for the people around us because it is the right thing to do – not because we will be getting back at them in some other way!
 
But it is a though we should remind ourselves of because we may end up doing more harm than good if we go about things in the wrong way. If we go out of our way to be nice just so we can get back at people, then we are doing that as our primary goal and not blessing them! It is not right to channel all our energy into getting back at people, no matter how much they have done in our lives.
 
Striving to be what Jesus would do is a far better goal to aim for – one which we may end up finding much hard to achieve that living our lives peaceably! Our motives for doing what we do have got to be more in line with God’s motives; it is these motive God will be looking at and how He will be judging us.
 
Points to Ponder:
Do you go out of your way to get back at people?
 
Are you setting your goals in line with Jesus’ goals?