Kindness.  Just seeing the word makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn’t it?  It makes you smile.  If I asked you to share a time when someone was kind to you, what comes to your mind?  We read at the beginning of Chapter 2 that “Kindness can be described as having the qualities of being friendly, generous and considerate.”  But is it really that easy or simple?  Let’s not dismiss this attribute as elementary, sisters.  We are challenged at the end of the chapter to ask God to show you where you have been unkind.  If you will, take a moment now and ask God; “Lord, am I truly and consistently kind?  To everyone?”

When we look in the Bible, there are MANY directives given to be kind or show kindness.  We see in Galatians 5:22 that it is one of the many fruits of the Spirit—evidences that we are being led by the Holy Spirit in our daily lives.  In 2 Peter 1: 5-9 we see that kindness is one of several qualities that will help us to be more effective and productive in our knowledge of Jesus.  In Ephesians 2:6 and 7 we are told that “God raised us up with Christ” in order to show us the “incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” We are directed to be kind to women, children, the poor and the oppressed, so there must be more to kindness than just being “friendly.”

When I looked up the word, “kindness” again, I saw the same definition—friendly, generous, considerate.  Then I looked up the word “kind.”  The fourth definition was “forbearing or tolerant.”  Here we go… here is where we are shown the difference between just opening the door for someone and truly taking on the nature of God.  In Luke 6: 32-35 we are shown a challenging passage that, like our passage in 1 Corinthians 13, exemplifies the true actions of a loving person.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?
Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you?
Even ‘sinners’ do that.
And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you?
Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners’, expecting to be repaid in full.
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them
without expecting to get anything back.
Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High,
because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. (NIV)

In preparation for this blog, I started the 16 Day Love Challenge a little early. Even as I was reading about patience (yep, I need to work on that…), God was convicting me about “kindness.”  He showed me two areas that needed improvement—how I spoke to my husband and how I dealt with customers at work.  Now don’t get me wrong, I try very hard to be a submissive, loving, supportive wife (AND a godly, cheerful, positive person at my job!).  But with my husband, sometimes I can be…critical. <Ugh. Anyone out there with me?>   There are times when, instead of seeing and recognizing what my husband does right, I pick out the small detail that is not to my liking and make some kind of comment about it.  Often, after it comes out of my mouth, I think “Why did I say that???”  Well, for the past several days I have been HIGHLY aware of what comes out of my mouth, because those little, tiny, nitpicky things have a tendency to wear someone down.   (And you know what, sisters?  We reap what we sow.  Do you have relationships that have a problem with criticism?  Do an honest check to see what you are sowing into it….) Not only have I tried to bring every thought under submission to God, but I’ve been happier…as has my husband.   I work part-time at a cute shop in town that sells cupcakes, and it can get rather busy.   I am the only person that works during my shift, and so a line to the door of often impatient customers can raise the stress level a bit.  There are many times when a customer wants to take a LONG time figuring out what just the right cupcake will be, and wants a description of the ingredients/frosting/sprinkles, etc. for every cupcake!  (Did I mention the line of customers behind him/her is to the door?  And they are being audibly impatient?)  Needless to say, I have a tendency to then become impatient and try to rush the customer along.  Is that showing love to that person?  NO.  I am being neither patient nor kind to those types of customers.   So I prayed to be more loving (patient and kind) to the difficult customers that came in the door.  It made for a much less stressful shift!

Let’s accept the challenge to exemplify “kindness” today – not only to those that are kind to us, but especially to those that are not!  If we do, our “reward will be great!” (Luke 6:35)

Let’s pray:

Kind father, THANK YOU for loving me!  Thank You for your blessings, and for every good and perfect gift that comes from You, especially for Your Son Jesus, and the hope we have through Him!  Show me where I can be kinder to those around me, and help me today to show the true love of Jesus in my actions.  Help me to give kindness as generously as You have given it to me.  In the name of Your Son we pray.

Amen.