Burning Coals Of Kindness

• Share a time when someone was unkind to you. How did you respond?

• What does the phrase “melt your heart” mean?

Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. 1
1 Thessalonians 5:15

This verse from 1 Thessalonians teaches us that we are not supposed to repay unkindness with unkindness. We are to do just the opposite—repay unkindness with kindness.

Proverbs 25:22 teaches us that showing kindness to our enemies is like piling burning coals on their heads. When someone is unkind to us and we respond with kindness, we completely confound them, opening their eyes to the gulf between the world’s ways and God’s ways. To respond like this is not human nature. It is not of this world.

When we respond to unkindness in a worldly way, repaying nastiness with more nastiness, we simply feed the cycle. Our unkindness never stops the other person from being unkind—it only kindles the fire. However, our kindness can potentially melt our enemies’ hearts, introduce them to God and change their lives.

Only God can transform our enemies into friends, but we can help start the process by introducing our enemies to God’s kindness. In Romans 12:20-21, Paul quotes the verse about the burning coals of kindness. Then he writes, “Overcome evil with good.” Our only real defense against unkindness is God’s love.

PRAYER
Dear God, please help us to overcome evil with your good by repaying unkindness with kindness. Please give us a gentle spirit as we try to show your love to the world. Amen.