Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living from Wordaction of The Global Church of the Nazarene Publishing House in Kansas City, Missouri, United States "Kindness is Rewarding" by Edith Miller for Saturday, 11 February 2017 with Scripture: Proverbs 25:15-28

Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living from Wordaction of The Global Church of the Nazarene Publishing House in Kansas City, Missouri, United States "Kindness is Rewarding" by Edith Miller for Saturday, 11 February 2017 with Scripture: Proverbs 25:15-28
-------
"Kindness is Rewarding" by Edith Miller
Proverbs 25:15 With patience a ruler may be won over,
    and a gentle tongue can break bones.
16 If you find honey, eat only what you need;
    for if you eat too much of it, you may throw it up;
17 so don’t visit your neighbor too much,
    or he may get his fill of you and come to hate you.
18 Like a club, a sword or a sharp arrow
    is a person who gives false testimony against a neighbor.
19 Relying on an untrustworthy person in a time of trouble
    is like [relying on] a broken tooth or an unsteady leg.
20 Like removing clothes on a chilly day or like vinegar on soda
    is someone who sings songs to a heavy heart.
21 If someone who hates you is hungry, give him food to eat;
    and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
22 For you will heap fiery coals [of shame] on his head,
    and Adonai will reward you.
23 The north wind brings rain
    and a backbiting tongue, angry looks.
24 It is better to live on a corner of the roof
    than to share the house with a nagging wife.
25 Like cold water to a person faint from thirst
    is good news from a distant land.
26 Like a muddied spring or a polluted well
    is a righteous person who gives way before the wicked.
27 It isn’t good to eat too much honey
    or to seek honor after honor.
28 Like a city breached, without walls,
    is a person who lacks self-control.
-------
Enemies are hostile, antagonistic, and intent on their target’s harm. Their destructive attitudes and actions wreak havoc at every opportunity, and they delight when they bring about failure.
God calls His followers to do difficult things for their enemies: Give them food to nourish their famished bodies, sustaining their lives even when they continue to mistreat and injure. And there’s more–if your enemies are thirsty, give them water. They need this liquid to sustain life as well.
Consider an enemy intent on harming you–or even a lesser enemy, like that rude neighbor who won’t speak to you, that coworker intent on making you look bad, even that person at church bent on belittling you. For what do these people hunger? Perhaps acceptance, forgiveness, friendship, or love? Perhaps their spirits have wilted from bad life experiences and poor choices. They are hungry. Their souls are parched and desert-dry; they attempt anything to satisfy their nagging thirst.
Offer that difficult person, the enemy, food and drink. Offer news about the One who freely gives life-giving water and food to sustain in this life and the next. Our enemies are dying for want of what Jesus gives. Feed them, give them water to drink.-------
Hymn for Today: "Give of Your Best to the Master" by Howard B. Grose
1. Give of your best to the Master;
Give of the strength of your youth;
Throw your soul’s fresh, glowing ardor
Into the battle for truth.
Jesus has set the example,
Dauntless was He, young and brave;
Give Him your loyal devotion;
Give Him the best that you have.
Refrain:
Give of your best to the Master;
Give of the strength of your youth;
Clad in salvation’s full armor,
Join in the battle for truth.
2. Give of your best to the Master;
Give Him first place in your heart;
Give Him first place in your service;
Consecrate every part.
Give, and to you will be given;
God His beloved Son gave;
Gratefully seeking to serve Him,
Give Him the best that you have.
Refrain:
Give of your best to the Master;
Give of the strength of your youth;
Clad in salvation’s full armor,
Join in the battle for truth.
3. Give of your best to the Master;
Naught else is worthy His love;
He gave Himself for your ransom,
Gave up His glory above.
Laid down His life without murmur,
You from sin’s ruin to save;
Give Him your heart’s adoration;
Give Him the best that you have.
Refrain:
Give of your best to the Master;
Give of the strength of your youth;
Clad in salvation’s full armor,
Join in the battle for truth.
-------
Thought for Today: Matthew 5:44 But I tell you, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45 Then you will become children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun shine on good and bad people alike, and he sends rain to the righteous and the unrighteous alike.
-------
Please Pray: That many people in Syria [including the leaders of Syria, the rebels, and ISIS] will come to know Yeshua the Messiah and receive the fullness of the Ruach HaKodesh.
-------