If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Romans12:20
Have you ever been discombobulated?
I'm not making things up - it is a real word.
It means "To throw into a state of confusion; to befuddle or perplex."
Many Christians have discovered how a genuine, loving and sincere act of service can discombobulate people. It shakes their presuppositions, breaks down their defence-mechanisms and opens their hearts.
Paul is quoting Proverbs here and, as far as the burning coals go, Proverbs is probably making reference to an old Egyptian ritual which the NIV Study Bible describes as follows: "A guilty person, as a sign of his repentance, carried a basin of glowing coals on his head. The meaning here, then, would be that in returning good for evil and so being kind to your enemy, you may cause him to repent or change."
I picked up two stories that illustrate this.
A church group went from store to store volunteering to clean up their staff toilets. At one shop the manageress was aggressive and suspicious. When she saw how well they worked and realised that there were no hidden strings attached, she told the pastor of the brokenness and waywardness of her life and then with a quivering lip she asked "would there be place in your church for someone like me?"
Another church offered free car-washes to the community, but they did not get many folk coming because people suspected that there was some kind of catch. So the next time the church advertised a "One Dollar Car wash" and this seemed to allay suspicions and soon there was a long queue of cars to be washed. When customers brought their cars to be washed, they were met by cheerful people with big smiles and warm welcomes and the car was well washed. You can imagine the speechless surprise for customers then, when the car had been washed, the church folk GAVE them a dollar and wished them a safe trip and a blessed day.
Service discombobulates people.
It breaks down the stereotypes of hypocritical Christians and creates a willingness to receive the message. So, after we have preached with our actions, we may just get to preach with our words too.
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I'll be taking a break from eDevs for the school holidays. Have a great break and please keep our country in your prayers. Make a special effort to serve others and you may make a big difference!
God bless!
Theo
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
