Dear Family and Friends,

Can you recall the first time you learned of Father (now Saint) Damien? I suspect we all had a similar reaction – wow, he was so kind to go and care for the people of Kalaupapa, even putting his health and life at risk for the sake of others.

My guess is there are many others who inspired you to be kind. Perhaps an aunty or the nice lady who lived down the street where you grew up.

But that was yesteryear’s world. Today, we live in a world where people take pleasure in being unkind, even cruel to others. And to make matters worse, other people are applauding and encouraging the cruelty on.

Although it’s a much different world we live in today, we who follow Christ are blessed by God in so many ways,“Lord, you are a paradise of protection to me. You lift me high above the fray.”  Psalm 61:3 TPT

And He’s given us the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23 ESV.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;”

Today, let’s focus on the fruit of the Spirit that’s capable of countering the unkindness that surrounds us – the character quality called kindness.

What does kindness mean to you? Does ‘kindness’ mean to be nice and pleasant, to get along and refrain from hurting others?

The dictionary defines kindness as – the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.

This was my definition, which caused me to rarely give kindness a second thought. Why? Because I considered myself to be sort of kind. Okay, kind enough to get by.

Yes, we are all kind. But to clarify, the kindness found in the Bible goes beyond Oxford’s definition.

Kindness is a quality of compassion and generosity. We see this quality in the many ways God cared for the weak and poor.

And while kindness is an attribute of God that is desirable to many, it is not a quality naturally found in mankind. 

“All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.””  ‭‭Romans‬ ‭3:12‬ ESV

So what should kindness mean for us who follow Christ?

Kindness is a Spirit-induced goodness that causes us to turn from our inherently cruel nature to one of caring for the needs of the needy, even when they don’t deserve it, appreciate it or love us in return.

Kindness moves us to take action in meeting the needs of others, like those who are hungry or thirsty. Who are lonely or lack clothes. Or are sick or imprisoned. (See Matthew 25:31-46)

And to do so in God’s ways and timing, and most importantly with the help of the Holy Spirit.

I think most of us understand that the fruit of the Spirit is like its namesake – fruit. For many of us, these characteristics don’t ripen overnight.

Like real fruit, it takes cultivation and time to grow in us. It requires nourishment – the word of God. And that we guard against our old ways that try to keep us in the patch of weeds. 

That said, let’s look at a few of the weeds that threaten to choke off our God-like quality of kindness.

  • We fear being embarrassed or rejected
  • We are indifferent towards others
  • We have a condescending or cynical attitude
  • We are obliviousness to our surroundings
  • We tell ourselves we have no time and more pressing priorities

We can go on but my point is this: all these reasons have one thing in common – me > others.

If we truly examine ourselves, the underlying reason why we are not as kind as we could be stems from an inward focus.

Our society has become inwardly focused and if we’re not careful about pulling our weeds, we too will turn inward.

I recognize that today’s message about kindness is anything but kind. So, I’ll stop here with just a simple reminder that we mind our fruit garden.

In love always,