¹⁹ Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. ²⁰ “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Let people walk all over us—is that what Christians are supposed to do? Not in the least, and not at all. The bottom line is not who wins the interpersonal battles between two people who have to stand up for themselves. There is something far greater involved than whether I am insulted or taken advantage of. Absolutely, Christians are not to offer themselves up as doormats to others’ ambitions and evil desires. So what do we do instead of taking revenge to even the score or stand up for ourselves?

First of all, we have an advocate. The command “Never take your own revenge” is balanced by the justice of God. We are now part of God’s family. He is our Father and will act on our behalf. His message to us in this passage essentially is: “Step aside; let Me handle this. Your part is to treat that person in a way that will benefit him. Don’t worry about your own discomfort.”

Paul is not writing anything new here. Proverbs reveals that such a tactic toward those who do evil against us is a wise course of action: “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; For you will heap burning coals on his head, And the Lord will reward you” (Pr 25:21–22). Jesus Himself taught His disciples, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matt 5:43–44). This goes contrary to our most basic, fallen human instincts, but it is what sets us apart from the world. We stand out from the world by our love for our fellow believers (John 13:35) and by our genuine, tangible love for the unsaved.

This requires genuine faith that God really is there even when there’s evil against us. We believe He will take care of the other person in His time and if necessary bring on His wrath. In faith we must always leave room for this truth in how we act toward people. To give in to revenge is tantamount to saying, “God can’t take care of the situation, so I must.”

This love is not a superficial love, manifested only in “wanting people to be saved.” It also includes the felt needs of the person: providing the basics of life for the down and outer (food and drink), or helping the offending person jump start his car, shoveling snow off his driveway or giving him food from your garden.

Lord, help me have genuine love for those who persecute me.