Friends do not avenge yourselves; instead leave room for His wrath. For it is written; Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay says the Lord.   Romans 12:18 HCSB

If you work, I want you to think about your job for a minute. Chances are if you are doing your job and doing it well, you don’t have time to do someone else’s job. But what if you began trying to do your boss’s job or their boss’s job. That could create some serious problems, right?

The old saying, “This is above my pay grade might apply here.” Well, when we attempt to do God’s job, no good is going to come from that. God doesn’t need our help. He may have an assignment for us to do, but I promise you, you will know when He does. He will make it crystal clear for you.

The Bible gives us our job description. In Exodus 20, we are given the Ten Commandments which very clearly tell us what we are to do and not to do. In Matthew 6:33-34 we are told not to worry but to focus on Him. In Philippians 4:8 we are told to focus on what is good and pure and honorable. Matthew 28:19 tells us to go forth and make disciples of all nations. In Ephesians 5:1 we are told to be imitators of Christ. And so, the list goes on and on.

But in our Scripture passage for today, we are told not to seek revenge. We are clearly told this is God’s job. When I worked probation and parole, I didn’t dream of trying to do my supervisor’s job or my regional manager’s job. I was happy to just do my job.

With God, I am happy to let Him do all the hard stuff. I spent many years of my life trying to fix things. I wanted to work everything out. But I learned that many things were just not my job. They were none of my business. I’ve learned that He does it so much better anyway, so now I just give it all to Him.

We think when someone offends us it’s our business. But if we are truly a child of God, it’s His business, not ours. If He truly runs our lives, then we must trust in Him to do His job. So, for those of you who just can’t sit around wringing your hands, what should you do? Well, I’m glad you asked. Because Paul tells us exactly what we are to do where our enemies are concerned.

In verse 20 of Romans 12, Paul goes on to say we should feed our enemy if he is hungry. If he is thirsty, we should give him drink. He says that in doing these things we will be heaping hot coals on his head.

I did an entire blog on what is meant by heaping hot coals on someone’s head. There are several theories, but I will use the explanation given in my commentary by Charles Ryrie. Mr. Ryrie says that the burning pangs of shame and guilt may lead to his repentance.

Ultimately this is what we should want for our enemy. We should want him to repent and become our brother in Christ. Then we have truly made him a disciple. This is our job. We are to do our best to plant seeds, water them when we can and lead others to Christ.

Judgment and execution are God’s job. Don’t get caught up in trying to do His job. Trust in Him to do it and do it well.

Have a great day!