Kindness
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Galatians 5:22-26 and Colossians 3:12
Kindness: Pleasant in nature,
forbearance, sympathetic, and benevolence.
Forbearance: To be
patient
Sympathy: Harmony of interests and aims; whatever affects
one person similarly affects the other person.
Benevolence: Giving
As we go through
this study, I’m sure you’ve realized by now that this study causes one to step
back and analysis our genuineness toward people, in this study, and in our relationship
with God. In this study and in life for
that matter, as Christians we need to be constantly keeping our hearts and
minds in check. We need to check to see if
we are just going through the motions, we need to check if we are just doing
things because it’s what you’ve been told is right instead of doing them
because we believe they are the right things to do. See dear readers if we don’t believe that
these things are important what is the point of doing this study? There is no point, we need to want this and
desire to be Christians that are influential and life-changing. People respond when they see the
life-changing example in us and are more open when they see Christians be real.
With that, kindness
is an action that cannot be affective unless it given with genuineness, I
always can tell when people are being fake-kind to me that irritates me to no
end! (And I’m sure that bothers other people too!) I have a motto, be real or go home. People can’t take people who aren’t genuine
serious, we know that it’s a facade and wonder what someone is really like
underneath (or what their true intentions are), do we want to be perceived that
way? I don’t think so. Kindness also
goes beyond how you treat others, but to how you act all the time.
I know someone who is positive and kind every
day. I don’t think I’ve heard one negative thing
about anyone ever come out of that person’s mouth, and whenever we talk I have
always heard a positive response to everything.
At first I didn’t think this person was real, but then I never witnessed
a changed behavior (and I’ve known this person for over two years) and it made
me think why am I not like that? Why can’t I be positive all the time, why can’t
I always respond with love, why can’t I make every day filled with sunshine?
Why wouldn’t I want to be like that? Don’t I want people to be happy? Aren’t I
happier when other people around me are happy?
Kindness is going
the extra mile; it’s doing something to help others even when you don’t want
to. It’s doing things strictly for
someone else’s gain (and no gain for you).
It’s always respond with love, positiveness, and genuine concern for a
person’s well-being even if that person totally grates your cheese. Christ even says that it is more rewarding to
give than to receive.
Acts 20:35: I have shown you in every way, by laboring
like this, that you must support the weak.
And remember the words of the Lord Jesus , that He said, “ It is more
blessed to give then to receive.”
Paul goes on,
calling us to do more for the edification (instruction and improvement) of
others and less to please ourselves. We
see this pattern throughout scriptures us being called to build each other up
and to pursue others needs over our own.
Why shouldn’t we? Didn’t Christ do that in a much greater sense?
Romans 15:1-2: We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and
not to please ourselves. Let each of us
please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification.
Galations 6: 9-10: And
let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we
do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have
opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the
household of faith.
In Ephesians it
spells out for us exactly what kindness isn’t and that we are supposed to stay
away from those things. This also goes
back to what we were talking about in chapter 1, what we put in our hearts we
put out, and vice versa. When we make
bad habits of negative behavior we in a way create a monster.
Ephesians 4:31-32:
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor,
and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
1 Peter 3:8: Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another;
love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous.
In 1 Peter we saw the
call for one mindedness, in other words work as a team, don’t work against
those around you, but rather work as the waves in the ocean push together to
create harmony. It also says to be “courteous”
plainly said haha use your manners, don’t be offensive, rather be polite.
I find this scripture of 1 John 3:17 to be so convicting and
powerful, it’s so simple and straight forward, but I think it moves me and
makes my mind pop every time I read it.
1 John 3:17: But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees
his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God
abide in him?
I’m not going to
write out this scripture because we will be reading it when we study love in a
few chapters, but I encourage you to read it on your own because it is such an important
passage. This is a true definition of
what love looks like, and kindness is just a small part of what love is and how
deep it goes. (Okay, I changed my mind…)
1 Corinthians 13:4-7:
Love suffers long and is kind; love
does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave
rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not
rejoice in inequity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Fun Fact: One thing
that is so important in English is to understand punctuation and its
significance. A semi-colon (;) is such
an important mark because it’s a symbol of something from the following
sentence having the ability to stand on its own, yet still needs to be included
in the previous sentence because their relationship is just that important! Did
you notice how many semi-colons were included in that entire paragraph? There
were five, it is so rare to see that many in such a small place. (God must have
wanted us to notice something…) (I get super excited about these sort of
things)
(This is Jesus
talking) Matthew 25:34-41: “Then the
King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I
was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a
stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you
visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord,
when did we see you hungry and feed You, or thirst and give You drink? ‘When
did we see You as a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? ‘Or when did we see You sick, or in prison,
and come to you?’ “And the King will
answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to the
least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
That right there is
such an important verse as well, God wants us to treat people the same way we
would treat him, isn’t that interesting? If God showed up on your doorstep
today, how would you treat him? I don’t
know about you, but it would be like if the Queen of England showed up, I would
want a moment to clean my house and make sure he was comfortable. I would cook and make sure that he had my
undivided attention. So I have a
question, is that how you treat everyone you come in contact with? I know that I definitely can’t say yes, I
wish I could, but I know that I would be lying.
As you go throughout
your day, week, and life think about how you treat people and ask yourself: If
that person were Jesus, would that be the way I would act? If you like kindness, I’m sure other people
do as well.
God bless you! Lots
of love from the Author:
Miah B
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