We Need More Kindness in the Kingdom
ENCOURAGE
Affirmation: “I show kindness to all.”
There are many Believers who claim to walk in love, yet are void of kindness. This can be detrimental to the kingdom for several reasons, however the main detriment is walking in false love. Because of this, I want to explore with you what it really means to be kind and give you some scriptures to help you walk it out.
I think many mistake kindness for “being nice,” and the two are not the same. Kindness in the Hebrew actually translates to: mercy, affectionate care, generosity, faithfulness, and/or compassion towards [someone]. This is why in the Old Testament you’d often see passages that say the Lord “showed kindness,” or a particular person “showed kindness” to another person (There are many examples but here are a few to start: Exodus 20:6, Genesis 24:12-14, and 2 Samuel 9:1-7). In these cases, those who were showing kindness were weren’t just doing something “nice,” they were pardoning, showing favor, blessing, or granting mercy to others.
The Oxford dictionary defines kindness as the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate; and showing favor and affection to. The term “nice,” on the other hand, means to be pleasant or polite and agreeable. You see, the difference here is that kindness flows from the heart, showcasing one’s genuine care for another person. Unlike kindness, being “nice” does not require you to sincerely care about a person, it is just a way to show manners and ensure that you are pleasant to be around.
What I want to get across is that God takes the kindness of His people seriously, so we should too. A few things you should know about kindness are that:
Kindness is an attribute of God that is multiplied in us through His Spirit.
Galatians 5:22 calls it a “fruit of the Spirit,” meaning it is the result of His Spirit working in and through you.
Kindness is a strength, not a weakness.
Proverbs 20:28 says, “Mercy and truth preserve the king, and by lovingkindness he upholds his throne.”
Kindness does not mean blindness.
Romans 12:9 says, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.”
Ephesians 4:15 also tells us we ought to speak the truth in love. This means that kindness should not make us turn a blind eye to things. Showing kindness is not a pass to water down the truth, be passive about sin, or forfeit holding yourself or others accountable. In fact, the most unkind thing you can do is withhold the truth from someone.
Kingdom people are called to be kind.
Romans 12:10 says, “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another.”
God doesn’t want people to simply be nice, rather He desires that we be kind, showing tender-heartedness to others in a genuine way. You can’t spell “kind” without kin, which means family; So my rule of thumb for being kind is to simply treat others like family.
We must understand that kindness is a manifestation of love. Kindness is proof that the love of God dwells in your heart. Whether it is kindness to a spouse, a spiritual sibling, yourself, the poor, or a total stranger, we are called to show kindness to others on earth.
Kindness is also a sign of spiritual growth and maturity. We see this in 2 Peter 1:5-9 which says, “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For He who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.”
When we grow in kindness, we grow in love and the knowledge of who Christ is, which is the ultimate purpose of our existence— to intimately know and love God and to love people as declared by Jesus as the two greatest commandments (Matthew 22:37-40). Kindness should not be overlooked in the kingdom. It is a characteristic and principle that we all should seek to add to our faith so that we can grow and mature, and become more like Christ, daily. We must be kind not just in our actions, but in our thoughts and hearts, in the way we perceive people, talk about them, engage with them, and think about them, including ourselves. One thing that will help us develop kindness is understanding the loving-kindness of God that He has shown towards us, and recognizing that we ought to extend that same kindness to others, knowing that we too need the Lord’s kindness (mercy and affection). Just as the 2 Peter 1:9 says, when we lack kindness (and other kingdom attributes) it is like we’ve forgotten that we were also cleansed from our past sins. If we want to walk in kindness, let us not forget that we too were once enemies of God. Yet because of HIS GRACE and LOVING-KINDNESS, we’ve been given the gift of eternal life through Jesus! Hallelujah!
EQUIP
Meditation Scriptures:
Psalm 100:5
Romans 12:10-12
Galatians 5:13-26
2 Peter 1:5-11
BUILD
Call to action: Reflect on the following question:
How can I be more kind to myself and others?
