Hey, everybody, welcome back to Authentic Faith! I am so sorry that I haven’t posted in so long: life has been absolutely crazy and I have had way too much on my plate. I hate not putting something up on here every other Friday, but I had to prioritize other things in my life, such as my academics and mental health. This blog is a passion of mine, and I have been working hard to help it grow and to learn how to get better at what I do, so I hate that I spent so much time away from this. I’m picking up right where I left off: with the Fruits of the Spirit series, and I’m going to continue to work hard so that I can be consistent with this. I’m so glad that you guys came back, and I really hope that this speaks to you today!
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You’d think that kindness is the simplest fruit of the Spirit to talk about, because it’s such a common topic in our society. I could throw around phrases such as “spread kindness like confetti” and “if you can be anything, be kind”, and hope that satisfies what the Bible sees kindness as. Unfortunately, I can’t take that easy way out, because kindness is so much bigger than that. I honestly struggled a lot with writing this because of the depth there is to true, Biblical kindness. There is a lot we have to learn if we want to display it in our lives.
You see, God’s kindness isn’t like those ‘random acts of kindness’ you see, where somebody decides to do one nice thing for somebody else and then goes back to their normal life. The thing about God is that He’s not a one-and-done type of guy. God shows us kindness each and every day to us, even if we don’t choose to acknowledge it. He does this by listening to us and being our foundation so that we do not falter. I think Scripture does a much better job of explaining that than me, though, so I’m going to let the Bible speak for itself.
“Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says,
‘In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’
Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise.” (2 Corinthians 6:1-8a).
Isn’t this an awesome passage? God is always close to us: He doesn’t leave us alone and instead chooses to always be by our side. This really is the ultimate kindness. When I think of being kind to someone, one of the first things that comes to mind is listening to what somebody has to say and allowing their voice to be heard. God does this for us every single day through the power of prayer. He gives us direct access to talk to the One who made the heavens and the earth, which means that we are never alone or without guidance. Even though it is up to us whether or not we choose to accept this gift and be in constant prayer with the Lord, we have been shown this most beautiful example of kindness.
Because of this, we are strengthened and able to, as 2 Corinthians puts it, “commend ourselves in every way” despite the battles that we are facing. The kindness that we have received from our Father should give us new life, and energize us to endure the hard parts of life with grace and love. This is where the “fruit” part of this comes in. If you are actively chasing a relationship with Jesus, then your output should be matching your input. In other words, if you claim to be inputting the love of Christ into your life, then you should be bearing fruit that matches that.
(Side note: When you hear the phrase “bearing fruit”, don’t automatically begin thinking about bearing fruit of the Spirit. Fruit bearing is just another way to describe your actions. If you are consumed in what the world has to offer, the fruit you bear will be actions that hurt other people and yourself. The fruit you bear could be sinful, so don’t assume that if you are bearing fruit that it is good. This is where a heart check comes in…something that I personally am way overdue for. Luke 6:43-45 describes this really well, so I encourage you to read it on your own and assess what fruit you are bearing.)
The good thing is that we have a really good example of what bearing fruit of kindness should look like in our life. Ephesians 4:32 tells us to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” The word “tenderhearted” means to be gentle and caring, which fits very well with the idea of forgiveness. When Jesus died on the cross to wipe our sins away, He chose to forgive us each and every time we sinned against him. This isn’t a reluctant forgiveness, but rather a forgiveness out of care and love for the person. Imagine if you went to God in prayer and asked for forgiveness, and He said “Ugh, I guess I will. You really have to stop sinning, though, this is getting annoying”. That would be horrible! I am grateful that when I repent to God in prayer, he forgives me with open arms and shows me love, even though I just sinned against Him and added more weight to Jesus’ cross.
I find this to be such a wonderful example of kindness, because I can guarantee that there are times in every person’s life where they are called to forgive someone. I know that this is so much easier said than done, but it’s a really good practical way to practice kindness. When we withhold forgiveness from somebody, we are not only having a hostile heart attitude towards them, but we are also withholding kindness from them. No, it doesn’t matter what they did. No, it doesn’t matter how mean what they said was, or how bad it hurt when they used you. God never told us to only forgive somebody if it was a minor thing that we can get over. He also doesn’t say to forgive somebody as long as they come to you and say sorry. Now, if somebody comes to you and apologizes for something that they did, you are absolutely called to forgive them, both in word and in your heart. But forgiveness has no limitations, and you should not extend it to only certain people at certain times. God forgives us, no matter what we did or how many times we did it. As believers, we are fully aware of sin, and understand when we sin against God. That means that when we come to ask for forgiveness, we are asking God to forgive us for something that we did intentionally, and with a choice! If God is just enough to forgive us without any holding back, we should try to be more like Him and not withhold forgiveness.
This makes me think of a pretty common parable, where Peter asks Jesus how many times he should forgive someone. Seven times sounds pretty reasonable, right? After that, they should know better and we should leave them on their own after that point. Just kidding…Jesus tells Peter that you should forgive someone seventy-seven times! Now, please don’t go starting a tally chart for how many times you forgive people. Jesus uses this number to show that we should always forgive someone, and that there is no limit for how many times somebody can ask for forgiveness. (If you want to read more, this parable is found in Matthew 18:20-35).
What can I do to show kindness?
I know that seemed like a long tangent about forgiveness, and it kind of was, honestly, but it wasn’t until I started writing that I thought about how connected it is to kindness. In fact, forgiving someone is a big way that we can show kindness to others, whether they are or aren’t believers. There are so many other ways that we can show kindness to people, too.
For example, Zechariah 7:9 says, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another.” According to the Bible, mercy is not giving someone what they deserve. God chooses to give us mercy every single day, because we know that we do not deserve the blessings He pours out on us. “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more”. (Hebrews 8:12) We sin each and every day against God, and somehow he loves us so much and is so kind to us that he withholds from us what we deserve: our eternity in hell.
Now, we obviously cannot just pull people from an eternity in hell: they have to be the one to make the choice to follow God. All we can do is point them in the right direction, and be faithful in prayer over them. If you want to show kindness, learn how to extend mercy to the people around you. If someone is getting on your nerves or being mean, it isn’t your place to judge them or put them down. Show them kindness through mercy, like when we are commanded to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).
In these next few weeks, I want to challenge you to take kindness a step further than the world does. Yes, doing something nice for someone is great, but I encourage you to take it a step deeper. Write someone a card or handwritten note, but then be praying over them in the following days. Give someone mercy, but have the right heart when you do it, and not expect anything in return for your actions. As Christians, we are called to a higher standard, and God wants to see us bearing His fruit with the right heart attitude.
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