Thought for Today
Proverbs 21:21 Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life and honor.
Micah 6:8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Galatians 5:22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,
Colossians 3:12 As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.
“Kindness is never random; it is a consistent way of living . . .” (These Days, August 29, 2025)
Jesus said, "Luke 10:27 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." He also said, "Matthew 7:12 In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.”
Kindness is defined as “ 1: the quality or state of being kind 2: a kind deed 3: archaic: affection” (www.merrian-webster.com) What does it mean to be kind? As an adjective, “1a: of a sympathetic or helpful nature b: of a forbearing nature: Gentle c: arising from or characterized by sympathy of forbearance” (www.merrian-webster.com)
All of those verses above speak to kindness. But, kindness is a word easily bandied about, carelessly mentioned without much forethought. We sometimes even equate kindness with Christianity. It is easy to use words without much careful attention being paid to their use. Certainly, kindness is an element of being Christian. As Paul noted, kindness is “the fruit of the Spirit.” As such, all Christians should be kind, should practice kindness.
However, there is more to being Christian than being kind. “Acts 11:26 and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called "Christians." The Greek word used is Χριστιανούς. (Christianous). It is defined as “a follower of Christ, Christian” (Friberg, Analytical Greek Lexicon) Christianity, like kindness, is also never random; it is a consistent way of living.
Being a Christian is not defined, nor is it determined by one’s faith tradition, by the denomination to which one belongs. Being a Christian is consistently living as a follower of Christ. I have known folks of almost every denomination, and of no denomination of faith at all, who were kind. I have known atheists and agnostics who were kind. I have known Moslems, Hindus, and Buddhists who were consistently and deliberately kind. Regrettably, I have known those who consider themselves Christian, who regularly attend worship, who are not kind, who do not consistently exhibit kindness.
Christ did not tell us which church to attend or to which denomination we should belong. Christ told us to love God, to love each other, to treat each other as we would like to be treated ourselves. Yet, far too often, those few simple words seem to over tax our minds, prove to be too high a hurdle for our actions to clear.
Many of us regularly worship; many of us, in that worship, regularly pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” How many of us ever ask ourselves how we are doing, individually or corporately? Do our individual lives reflect our faith? Do we actively, deliberately witness our love for God in our Monday through Saturday lives? Do we ever witness our love for others in our lives? Do we do anything to help advance that for which we pray, God’s will being done in our lives and in our world?
We are not all called to the clergy; we are not all called to be theologians. We are not all called to be saints. We are called to practice lives of love. We are all called to deliberately, consistently called to “practice what we preach.” I love to sing the hymn They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love. They’ll only know if I do deliberately and consistently witness “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness” in the life I live.
If I do that, if we all do that, we will receive that for which we pray. If we all do that, we can bring about a kind world.
Stay safe, live your life as a Christian, trust God,
Pastor Ray