This Rejoice & Praise God Sunday Open Thread, with full respect to those who worship God on the Sabbath, is a place to reaffirm our worship of our Creator, our Father, our King Eternal.

It’s also a place to read, post, and discuss news that is worth knowing and sharing. Please post links to any news stories that you use as sources or quote from.

In the QTree, we’re a friendly and civil lot. We encourage free speech and the open exchange and civil discussion of different ideas. Topics aren’t constrained, and sound logic is highly encouraged, all built on a solid foundation of truth and established facts.

We have a policy of mutual respect, shown by civility. Civility encourages discussions, promotes objectivity and rational thought in discourse, and camaraderie in the participants – characteristics we strive toward in our Q Tree community.

Please show respect and consideration for our fellow QTreepers. Before hitting the “post” button, please proofread your post and make sure your opinion addresses the issue only, and does not confront or denigrate the poster. Keep to the topic – avoid “you” and “your”. Here in The Q Tree, personal attacks, name-calling, ridicule, insults, baiting, and other conduct for which a penalty flag would be thrown are VERBOTEN.

In The Q Tree, we’re compatriots, sitting around the campfire, roasting hot dogs, making s’mores, and discussing, agreeing, and disagreeing about whatever interests us. This board will remain a home for those who seek respectful conversations.

Please also consider the Guidelines for posting and discussion printed here: 
https://www.theqtree.com/2019/01/01/dear-maga-open-topic-20190101/

On this day and every day –

God is in Control
. . . and His Grace is Sufficient, so . . .
Keep Looking Up

Hopefully, every Sunday, we can find something here that will build us up a little . . . give us a smile . . . and add some joy or peace, very much needed in all our lives.

“This day is holy to the Lord your God;
do not mourn nor weep.” . . .
“Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet,
and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared;
for this day is holy to our Lord.
Do not sorrow,
for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Sacrificial Kindness

H/T to the Shovel Lady.

During this ongoing and interminable political season, most of us probably have developed a large mental list of people who supported policies that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths from COVID, the grooming of our children, the theft of our elections, the invasion of our southern border, the loss of our energy independence, the defunding of our law officers, the closure of our businesses, the crime and destruction in our cities, and other destructive liberal policies, and now wish us harm . . . we now consider them our enemies, and want to see some kind of penalty levied.

They supported policies that did us harm, so we now want to see some harm befall them . . . but is this the attitude that we should be holding? Y’know, something like an eye for an eye?

According to Proverbs 25:21–22, the Lord would have us treat our enemies with kindness and generosity: “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.” This passage states the paradoxical kingdom truth that the way to deal with an enemy is to do him good.

Elisha the prophet carried out a similar kindness for the Aramean army when they came against Israel, setting food and drink before the troops and then sending them home. After that, they stayed away from Israel (2 Kings 6:21–23; cf. 2 Chronicles 28:15). Old Testament law even commanded that an Israelite return his enemy’s ox or donkey if it strayed and give aid to his enemy’s ailing beast of burden (Exodus 23:4–5).

Heap burning coals on someone’s head is an expression associated with punishment in the Bible (Psalm 11:6; 140:10). The idea is that under the heat and pressure of applied kindness, the person will feel ashamed, regret his actions, and repent. The phrase could have originated from an ancient Egyptian propitiation ritual in which a person guilty of a crime was made to carry a basin of burning embers on his head as a symbol of his repentance. The goal of treating our enemies with kindness is to bring them to a place of conviction about their wrongdoing and, thus, cause them to repent.

In Romans 12:9–21, the apostle Paul cited Proverbs 25:21–22 to show that we overcome evil through love and goodness. He taught, “Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them” (verse 14, NLT). “Never pay back evil with more evil” (verse 17, NLT). “Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, ‘I will take revenge; I will pay them back,’ says the LORD. Instead, ‘If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.’ Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good” (verses 19–21, NLT).

Our instinctive human reaction to being wronged is to retaliate against our enemies. Yet, such a response is prohibited to followers of Christ. Jesus taught, “Do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also” (Matthew 5:39). As Christians, we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:43–48). We conquer evil by doing what is good, and we win over our enemies by loving them and treating them with kindness and compassion.

In His great Sermon on the Mount, Jesus called His disciples to be agents of peace in this world: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven” (Matthew 5:9–12).

There are reasons why Christians should not take revenge. First and foremost, God has made it expressly clear in Scripture that it is His job to punish sin (Deuteronomy 32:35, 41; Ecclesiastes 12:14). And, since God wants “all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,” Christians are to lead “peaceful and quiet” lives, so they don’t hinder the work of the gospel (1 Timothy 2:1–4). When we perform God’s job of avenging ourselves and punishing our enemies, we run the risk of bringing harm to the cause of the gospel. But when we love our enemies sincerely and sacrificially, God will honor and reward us.

For a Christian, the best way to defeat an enemy is to turn that enemy into a brother or sister in Christ. Romans 2:4 says that God’s kindness is intended to lead people to repentance. It stands to follow that our kindness to an enemy might also help bring that person to repentance. Treating our enemies with unexpected benevolence and generosity will have a disarming and discomforting effect, with the potential of leading them to remorse, repentance, and salvation in Jesus Christ.

God sacrificed Jesus, His Son, part of Himself, for us while we were still His sin-filled enemies. Shouldn’t we, as a minimum, make a determined effort to follow His teaching and example in our own lives to our perceived enemies?