I Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV) 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Ephesians 4:26-29, 31-32 (RSV) 26 Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need. 29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice, 32 and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Kindness is being tenderhearted, considerate, respectful, sensitive to each other, and forgiving one another. Kindness is a kind of undeserved goodness we give to other people. Kindness is a kind of graciousness we show to one another.
In this “push and pull, get out of my way” kind of world, do you see the person who needs your kindness? How can we be and become the person who has the sensitivity to see the need in the noise? How can we be the person who has the heart to help? And, what keeps us from being kind?
Put away all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander along with all malice. Put away the hardness of our society that slowly creeps into our soul. Put off the hardness of spirit that comes from being unfairly treated. Put off the bitterness and complaining and blaming that the push and pull world tries to lay on us. In particular, put off those thoughts that make us hard instead of kind. For example, do you ever do battle with people in your head? Do you know the battle? Do you know the thoughts? Put that away. Don’t let those thoughts go on in your mind because they harden your soul. They keep you from being kind.
Put away all malice and bitterness. Put away, by putting them in the hand of God, all those thoughts that harden our souls. We put them in the hand of God by sharing with God what is going on inside us, acknowledging to God our thoughts and our feelings. Put away means we share. We acknowledge. Then we trust God to do whatever God chooses to do. We carry out our responsibility, and as we put away God puts the kindness into us. God does it. Kindness is the result of God’s work in our life. Kindness is God’s gift to us. But, God does not give kindness to hearts that are filled with bitterness and malice. Kindness means doing something, acting kindly toward one another as God has acted kindly toward us.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope June 27, 1999
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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