"Kindness"

This week’s "Along the Journey" has more to do with living than with dying, but the subject has been on my mind lately and I want to share some thoughts about kindness.

The first Bible verse I learned as a pre-schooler in Sunday School was “Be ye kind one to another” (Ephesians 4:32). A couple of years later, we learned the remainder of the verse: “…tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ has also forgiven you.”

I have tried to model my life after this admonition. Admittedly, I have often failed, but kindness has always been a virtue that I tried to embrace. As I look around me today, I wonder whatever happened to kindness. We live in such a raucous, angry, disrespectful society. Just yesterday, as I was filling my car with gas, another customer became angry with the attendant because her receipt didn’t print. She stormed into the office and very loudly berated him. He accused her of not pressing the right button. It wound up with each using an ethnic slur against the other — all over such a minor thing. Whatever happened to kindness?

Kindness doesn’t mean going along with that which is wrong; nor does it mean allowing others to mistreat you. Sometimes we have to take a strong stand. But we can still do it with kindness, without denigrating the person.

Someone has said, "Love talked about is easily ignored. But love demonstrated is irresistible."

Jesus not only talked about love and kindness, but He modeled it for us. He was the epitome of kindness. He paid attention to those with whom He was interacting. His kindness signaled acceptance and affirmation. The Bible depicts kindness as the character of God. And the Apostle Paul lists kindness as a gift of the Spirit.

Kindness for others is not an emotion or a feeling, it is a choice. We choose to be kind to others, to embrace them in love, because God tells us to.

But what is kindness?

The Hebrew word is “hesed”:
“O Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love [hesed, kindness] endures forever.”

The Greek word for Christ is “Christos.”
The Greek word for kindness is “Chrestos.”
Many in the ancient world thought followers of Christ were actually “Chrestians,” followers of kindness. To be kind means ultimately to look like Christ.

Kindness means to be good, useful and helpful, considerate and gracious in all situations regardless of circumstances. It means that we care for the feelings of others and feel with them. It involves suffering with those who suffer, struggling with those who struggle, and honoring the worth and value of every person.

It’s not always easy to be kind, but as followers of God, it is an essential ingredient of our character. As I move down the last phase of my earthly journey, I have given thought to how I would like to be remembered. I hope that some of you will have some positive memories of things I am and have tried to do. I hope you’ll ignore my failures, or, at least, forgive me for them. But I hope that a few of you will have seen in my life a measure of kindness. That would make me happier than you can imagine.

So, the circle is nearing completion. From my childhood teaching of “be ye kind one to another,” I hope that I have moved on to the rest of the story: “tenderhearted, forgiving one another.”
That’s a goal worthy of all of us.