-How can one increase love?.1Corinthians
13:1, yet still
love in balance?
Love abounds when knowledge
and insight increases:.Philippians
1:9.
Even one who increases his
knowledge in say, the field of computers, develops more love for what he
is doing and ladies, some guys too much so – right? Ha!
Verse
10.(original
is 'to be careful to make a part of you that which is best for you, so
that you may continue to be pure and without offence')
-Are we to be inviting strangers
into our homes as it says in Hebrews
13:2? Couldn't this be unwise?
Hebrews
13:1 is talking of brotherly love, other Christians whom you do not
yet know. A better translation of the first sentence in verse 2 would be
'Always be hospitable'.
-Why would I want to care
for an enemy (Romans 12:20) if
this just made things worse for him? How is this showing love?
Showing love and care and
serving others, even your enemies doesn't hurt them:.Romans
13:10 "Love works no ill to his neighbour....."
The term "coals of fire"
in Romans 12:20 refers to the
Great Powerful Infinite One that we often refer to as God, working
on someone, and is taken from the Old Testament Book of Proverbs (probably
the greatest
psychology
book ever written):.Proverbs
25:21,22 "If your enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he
be thirsty give him water to drink. For you shall heap coals of fire upon
his head.(it
will awaken him to love).and
the LORD shall reward you." Psalms
18:13,14 "The LORD also thundered in the heavens and the Highest gave
his voice, hail stones and coals of fire. Yea, he sent out his arrows and
scattered them and he shot out lightnings and discomfited.(original
'to move noisly'; to get their attention).them."
Once God begins to work in
someone's life, things will become different for him. God is taking vengeance
upon him or her:.Romans
12:17-21 "Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest
in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live
peaceably with all men.(how?).
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath.
For it is written.(where),
Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy
hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing you shall
heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil
with good." Luke
18:7,8 "And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night
unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge
them speedily....." Deuteronomy
32:35 "To me belongeth vengeance and recompence; their foot shall slide
in due time. For the day of their calamity is at hand and the things that
shall come upon them make haste."
The change may take years,
but change comes, and all because you showed love, which focuses God's
attention upon the object of your love for the
other's ultimate good. It will have a good effect upon him – somewhere,
sometime.
Easton's Bible Dictionary:
"Heaping coals of fire on the head" symbolizes overcoming evil with good.
The words of Paul.(Romans
12:20) are equivalent to saying, "By charity and kindness you shalt
soften down his enmity as surely as heaping coals on the fire fuses the
metal in the crucible."
It is interesting also to
understand the meaning and purpose of fire.
