Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

If he is thirsty, give him a drink;

For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:14-21

We are to receive grace, but we are to also give it. We are to walk in the way Jesus walked. Remember how the book of Deuteronomy speaks of the blessings and the curses. What does Paul say in Romans 12? Do not curse! Give a blessing where a curse is deserved. Isn’t that what Jesus did for us?

It is the world’s way to give back what we are given. If someone hates us, we hate them back. If someone hurts us, we pay back in kind. Yet, when we do that, our enemies defeat us. We don’t win a victory, but we lose. We become the very thing that we hate.

For example, I was looking at two publications that are polar opposites on just about everything. One side wrote articles telling how terrible the other side was. In their opinion God was obviously against their opponents. Then I looked at the other publication, and they said the same thing using the same adjectives to describe their opponent. I concluded that these people were all the same, only they did not realize it. One hated the other side, and the other side hated right back. You could even take an article from one, change the nouns, keep the same adjectives and descriptive phrases and use that same article in the opposing publication. These people were just like each other, and they did not even know it!

What if one publication was different? What if they began to write about how much God loved their opponent? What if they actually started to do what Paul talked about and to gave a blessing in return for a curse? What would happen? The darkness of the other side would be exposed. This is where Paul’s statement comes in “… For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” The greater the love given in return for hatred, the more apparent the hatred becomes to all. We expose darkness with light not more darkness.

If we become just like our enemies, they have won. The victory is in not becoming like them in an attempt to defeat them, but to overcome evil with good. Jesus said when a Roman soldier makes you carry his pack one mile, carry it two. The way you triumph in that situation is not to hate the Roman soldier but to show astounding generosity instead. Could you imagine how a Roman soldier who received such kindness would feel? He would have a hard time hating the one who served him.

In the kingdom of God the way to be free from our enemies is not to destroy them or repay in kind. It is to forgive them. An unforgiven enemy will always have a hold on us in some way or another. If we forgive, they have lose all hold on us.

Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount were troubling and subversive in His day, and they still are in ours. His words should trouble our hearts. We should wrestle with them to find their meaning in our lives that we might walk in the way our Master did. He walked in grace all the way to the cross.