I can remember a time when my cell phone was missing and a friend of mine spent a couple of hours of their time helping me to search for it. I can remember in college when a friend of mine had his computer die (as in completely stop working) just as he was finishing a 10-page research paper and he went to his professor who agreed to give him an extension on the assignment. I can remember being overwhelmed by the folks at Neath Church when I was in the process of moving my family into the Le Raysville area as they made us meals, provided us with temporary housing, gave us gifts, helped us pack up and move out of our previous home and move into our new home, and some put off work they had to do at their homes to come and help me work on our home so it would be ready for us to move in.
These are all acts of kindness. The dictionary defines kindness as, “the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.” The Bible talks a lot about the importance of kindness. Here are just a few examples:
"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."
~ Ephesians 4:32
“Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,”
~ Colossians 3:12
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant”
~ 1 Corinthians 13:4
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
~ Galatians 5:22-23
God’s love for us is unconditional. This means no matter what we have done, God loves us. This is wonderful news, because God showed us, he loves us by sending Jesus to die for our sins so that we could have salvation if we believe in Jesus, His death and resurrection. Then, God expects us to love others unconditionally just as He loves us unconditionally. This is not always an easy thing. When someone is unkind to us the last thing we want is to show kindness, but God can give us the strength to love and show kindness even to those who don’t deserve our kindness. After all, I didn’t deserve God’s love and kindness towards me in providing me with the opportunity to be saved from my sins.
At Neath Church our mission is simply “Loving and serving God and people” Performing acts of kindness towards others is one way that we can show love for others. Kindness is love in action.
Acts of kindness can be a simple thing, like holding a door for someone or checking on someone in the parking lot who has the hood of their car up, or even noticing someone who needs a kind word spoken to them. Genuine acts of kindness are a powerful thing. Perhaps we would all do well to put effort into improving in this area.
I love this quote from Ravi Zacharias, “There is never an excuse for unkindness” This is so true. We try to make excuses for ourselves when we fail to act kindly but the truth is there is no excuse.
How can you go out of your way today to show kindness to someone?