Heaping coals of fire

In Proverbs 25:21-22, the Scriptures tell us that

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 is reiterated in Romans 12:20:

On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."

What do you think this means?

I had heard it explained before, but I could not remember, so I recently looked it up.  It means to bless your enemies.

Apparently, in a culture where one carries things on their heads and where one can ask their neighbours for anything one needs without embarrassment, one is even able to ask for fire when one's own fire goes out.  So one's neighbour would heap coals of fire for one to carry home.

How unlike us, who thinks of wanting to hurt our enemies!

We would want to think of avoiding one's enemies, or harming the enemy in some way.  But this is not the way of the Lord.  The Lord would want us to bless our enemies the way we want to bless our neighbours.  The promise is that the Lord would reward us if we do.

These proverbs are generally true.  A recent story I read was of a Japanese pilot who played a major role in the bombing of Pearl Harbor, in the battle that started World War II.  This pilot later came to know Jesus.  His change of heart led him to love his enemies, and he was rewarded.

But how unlike us, who would naturally wish to fear our enemies, or hate them, or wish bad things on them.

How would you feel towards the ISIS if you were one of the victims?  Or related to one of them?

Or if you have been raped? Or in some other way abused?

How do we love our enemies? How did Jesus do it?  How should we do it?  Why?

Would you love your enemies the way Jesus loves you?