"Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame." (S.O.S. 8:6)
"If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink. You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads, and the LORD will reward you." (Proverbs 25:21-22 NLT)
As to these coals, I have somewhat been amazed by the concept of them since I was a very small child, as this is the thing my mother would say to me when I complained about a bully at school or someone that might have taken advantage of my kindness towards them. And then she would say, "Pray for you enemies," and I would, while imagining coals being dump upon their heads. Not quite sure that is the intention she had for me to pray over them for; because Jesus said, "Love your enemies," as He was telling us how we show that we are the children of our Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:43-48)
Is this something that is easy to do? NO!!! This is the thing we struggle with more than most anything else; especially when we are those that are in a leadership position. It is hard to hold your tongue, to make yourself humble, or to turn the other cheek; sometimes, it might even be borderline to not being able to show any forgiveness; and we all know where that will lead us! As much as it is hard to do, it is not a thing that can be impossible to overcome, but it must be yours to give away! As Pastor Bryan always says, "You have to own it, in order to give up to God!"
I know, you might not be all that excited about what this verse has turned into; but to be abundantly clear, Solomon was a king with a heart. He might have had some obsessions with women, horses and riches; but he loved people and hated war. Believe it or not, but he also loved God, and more importantly, he knew without a doubt that God loved him. If you don't think that is the most important part of the equation, think again! God will always beat us in the, "Love you more," debate; we don't even stand a chance!
If we need a way to connect with what God wants to do in us, then we need to connect the dots of what we are, how importantly we need to be fixed, and how hard it is to be pure; because it is more important to God for us to live out His love in our lives, as that is reasonable service...
"When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You were ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do the things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:20-23) NLT
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