Kindness: Kindness is the fifth fruit. Kindness is described as being indulgent, considerate, or helpful. The Greek root of the word kindness is chrestotes which is described as, gentleness in dealing with others or benevolence. I generally always thought of kindness just as going out of your way to do something nice for someone else without expecting anything in return. After all my reading though I have discovered it is more akin to patience, in fact the two are often said in the same breath. In truth it is not being nice but is often described as the ability to act for the welfare of those taxing your patience. It is also used quite frequently in the Greek to depict rulers and people in positions of power. As well as in the Bible when Paul uses it to describe God's kindness for people who are unsaved. Titus 3:4-5 "But when the kindness and love of God our savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy" and also of course Ephesians 2:7-9 "in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is a gift of God, not by works". Once again proving our God does what is best for us even without us deserving it. It is truly less about being nice and more about doing something for the good of someone no matter what they do.
In this understanding being nice defiantly isn't enough. We must strive to stretch our patients to the limits. Give until you cannot give anymore and then ask God to replenish you so you can give EVEN more. The thought I'm having from doing all of these fruits is, The fruits come from God. Everything I have read has said God encompasses all these qualities and has applied them to his relationship with us. In applying these fruits we are striving to become more like HIM. It also reminds me of Jesus and turning the other cheek. You know WWJD and all that. We must put good effort into treating other people the way we want to be treated (or the way God would treat them rather) no matter how they treat us or act . Now that sounds easy but with the caliber of people walking around now days it might take all your efforts to maintain. The only thing that makes me feel better is knowing it is VERY hard to be mean to or mad at a person who sincerely wants to be kind to you and continues to do so even in the face of criticism from you, scowls, growls and all. Take heart because there is only so long someone can continue to berate someone who refuses to fight back. Again we come back to the "deserving" word. There are a lot of people that are of the opinion that some people don't "deserve" our kindness. I would say that is wrong thinking. The fact that God has called us to be kind is one of the reasons. I have yet to find a place in the bible where it says "be kind only to those who deserve it" or "Be kind only to other Christians". Though some people would like to believe it's in there somewhere. Being kind isn't about deserving or not, its about God. You are kind to others for God, it's what he said to do and not only that but it will bring you closer to him. You have to be of the mind I'm going to do what God has commanded me to, whether someone else does it or not (or whether someone else is looking or not too but that's a different matter). When it comes to deserving, WE DON'T EVEN DESERVE IT, so how can we expect others to earn our kindness? Be kind because God has been kind with you and that's how you show the world what God's love looks like.
Once again this fruit requires practice. I mess it up all the time, but I know God will forgive me and I can try again. My problem is usually saying something before thinking it all the way through and is usually tied to my patients. Something that has helped me thus far is the thought " breath, think, respond". It can be used in many scenarios and it's effective when applied in this manner: Take a deep breath(quietly, you don't want your reaction to be seen as annoyance). Think about how what you are doing will be perceived (don't obsess) think about if it is the way God would want you to react and respond. You can even say a quick prayer like "God guide me". Then respond in the appropriate way. It works more often then not and hopefully the closer you get to God the quicker you will be with knowing what to say and do at appropriate times. Also I really think it is important to just plain do nice things for people once and awhile. It helps me focus on others and stop thinking about myself so much! It reminds others that you think about them, that God is working in you and that once again Christianity is about bringing people to Christ. Make sure you are doing things God has called you to do because those are the times it's really needed. Let God lead you and Remember God was kind to you first. Showing his kindness is a very obvious way to spread Gods truth that none of us is deserving, it's only through him that we can survive at all.
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