Kindness
"He is KIND to the ungrateful and evil." - Luke 6:35
I love that the word "kind" was used here. "Ungrateful" and "evil" are such strong words, strong spiritual deficiencies with pretty despicable symptoms. Yet instead of "judgement", or "tough love", or even "merciful" which are all forceful good, the word "kind" is gentle, a soft touch that holds the force of mercy and the all consuming love with a sweetness that the ungrateful and evil do not deserve.
Love is powerful enough to transform without the fear of punishment or judgement. Love is the only thing that transforms, it is big, and sweeping, and you are in the middle of it before you knew you had started. Kindness is the front door, the invitation, gentle and subtle and sweet. Kindness ushers us into grace, but kindness is the doorstep, where it becomes our choice to respond or not, and if we do respond to that kindness, the door opens, and grace welcomes us.
So many people have false kindness that we have lost the importance of that word, of that outlook of gentle welcoming and invitation, sneaky love. We have changed the meaning of kindness to empty pleasantries and manners.
"The kindness of God our Savior towards man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by the Holy Ghost." - Titus 3:4
It is the kindness of God that saved us through the Holy Ghost.
"In the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." - Ephesians 2:7
It is the kindness of God that manifested itself in Jesus Christ. The grace of God is fulfilled in His kindness.
Kindness isn't a "fast-results" sort of thing. It is slow, and feels pointless in the face of rudeness or wickedness, but the amount of character that it takes to not force love down someone's throat and wait for them to respond to kindness -- or if they never respond -- is the sort of character that Jesus constantly modeled during His time on earth, and the sort of character that God calls us to, and fully equips us for.
"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness," - Colossians 3:12
(Quick Sidenote: why on earth must the Bible use the word "bowels" so much. fIND A BETTER WORD.)
As a result of our identity: the elect of God, chosen, holy, fully loved, we wear kindness comfortably. It should be as familiar as breathing, breathe in grace, breathe out kindness, breathe in grace, breathe out kindness. There are many powerful callings over our lives in the Bible, strong, wild promises and declarations of who God's children are meant to be. All of them are important and have something to bring that we need, but I think kindness gets drowned out. It is an expression of love, the gentle and welcoming kindness that sees the fragile hearts and treats them with care, because every heart -- no matter how hard of an exterior -- without God, is broken, fragile, and incomplete. We need kindness to mend.
I love that the word "kind" was used here. "Ungrateful" and "evil" are such strong words, strong spiritual deficiencies with pretty despicable symptoms. Yet instead of "judgement", or "tough love", or even "merciful" which are all forceful good, the word "kind" is gentle, a soft touch that holds the force of mercy and the all consuming love with a sweetness that the ungrateful and evil do not deserve.
Love is powerful enough to transform without the fear of punishment or judgement. Love is the only thing that transforms, it is big, and sweeping, and you are in the middle of it before you knew you had started. Kindness is the front door, the invitation, gentle and subtle and sweet. Kindness ushers us into grace, but kindness is the doorstep, where it becomes our choice to respond or not, and if we do respond to that kindness, the door opens, and grace welcomes us.
So many people have false kindness that we have lost the importance of that word, of that outlook of gentle welcoming and invitation, sneaky love. We have changed the meaning of kindness to empty pleasantries and manners.
"The kindness of God our Savior towards man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by the Holy Ghost." - Titus 3:4
It is the kindness of God that saved us through the Holy Ghost.
"In the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." - Ephesians 2:7
It is the kindness of God that manifested itself in Jesus Christ. The grace of God is fulfilled in His kindness.
Kindness isn't a "fast-results" sort of thing. It is slow, and feels pointless in the face of rudeness or wickedness, but the amount of character that it takes to not force love down someone's throat and wait for them to respond to kindness -- or if they never respond -- is the sort of character that Jesus constantly modeled during His time on earth, and the sort of character that God calls us to, and fully equips us for.
"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness," - Colossians 3:12
(Quick Sidenote: why on earth must the Bible use the word "bowels" so much. fIND A BETTER WORD.)
As a result of our identity: the elect of God, chosen, holy, fully loved, we wear kindness comfortably. It should be as familiar as breathing, breathe in grace, breathe out kindness, breathe in grace, breathe out kindness. There are many powerful callings over our lives in the Bible, strong, wild promises and declarations of who God's children are meant to be. All of them are important and have something to bring that we need, but I think kindness gets drowned out. It is an expression of love, the gentle and welcoming kindness that sees the fragile hearts and treats them with care, because every heart -- no matter how hard of an exterior -- without God, is broken, fragile, and incomplete. We need kindness to mend.
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