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The Fruit of the Spirit: Kindness
Who inspires kindness in your life? When should we be kind? To whom should be we kind?
Ephesians 4:32
As we continue our study of the fruit of the spirit, today’s word is kindness. What is kindness? Isn’t kindness being nice or saying something nice or doing something nice for someone else, maybe even when it isn’t required, maybe even when it isn’t deserved.
We can probably think of people that have been pretty nice and kind to us in our lives. Maybe it’s that grandmother that always gives you something whenever you go to her house. Maybe it was that police officer that didn’t give you the ticket even though you really deserved it. Maybe it was that individual when you backed into his car, he didn’t file an insurance claim on you. People who did nice things to you though you didn’t deserve it, though wasn’t required.
What motivates kindness? Just this morning I was out on my way driving to work and I had to stop for a moment because there was a group of guys that was helping another guy get his car out of his driveway. See he had been blocked in because the snowplow had come by and created this huge bank there. Well these three or four guys work diligently to get them out in no time at all.
I didn’t think much of it but about a mile down the road I found yet another motorist in a similar situation. So I decided to pull over to help him out. We tried to dig around his car dig around his tires and push but were unsuccessful until finally another motorist pulled over and he decided to help. We got him out like that. And all of a sudden it dawned on me. Wait a minute. I’ve seen that guy before. Where? I had just seen him. He was the guy who had just gotten his car pushed out by those first group of guys and now he stopped to help push another guy out. It dawned on me that that first kindness had motivated his kindness to respond in a similar way.
Well people aren’t always kind to us. Sometimes they are sometimes they aren’t. What should motivate our kindness as Christians? Ultimately the place for us to look is Christ. In Ephesians Chapter 4 verse 32 Paul writes:
Instead, be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ has forgiven us. (Ephesians 4:32)
Reminds us that God has been incredibly kind, compassionate, forgiving to us in Christ. Who has died for those who didn’t deserve it. He did what was unexpected, what we didn’t in any way deserve because of him that love of Christ, that kindness to us, inspires our own kindness to each other. May Christ inspire your kindness today in your life. Amen.
