Kindness

“But remember, boy, that a kind act can sometimes be as powerful as a sword.” ― Rick Riordan, The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson & the Olympians series)

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.” ― Plato

Kindness is such a basic concept, but it is something we all struggle with. Kindness is easy to show to those who are kind back, but the depth and genuineness of our kindness is tested when difficult people walk into our lives.

Kindness is being considerate.

We all like to be treated kind, and don’t think we ever deserve to be treated unkind. But often we slip up and don’t do what we want done to us.

To Neglect Kindness Has Consequences

Proverbs 11:17 ESV

A man who is kind benefits himself, but a cruel man hurts himself.

Biblical Points

All actions have consequences.

I know that is a very cliche statement, but it has a lot of truth in it. Whatever your pouring out is going to come to bloom, and you are going to be stuck eating what you sowed. You gonna eat either good or worm filled fruit.

Their is no such thing as an isolated event in your life. Every event in your life is a part of your story and shapes it in some form or another. It may be a slight alteration or a major rip or a small improvement or a large improvement. But in the end every event in your life impacts your life.

To be more specific on the consequences of our actions

The way we treat others blesses us or curses us.

Proverbs 11:17 is pretty straight forward on this point. If you treat people like dirt, your personality is going to be dirty. You treat people with kindness, dirt is going to be cleaned from your life and their life

Application

Attitude problems are not outward issues, but inward issues.

Some of us have been given by the world every excuse to be bitter, to be angry, to not care, to hate, etc. But you want to know something, the world does not have to give us our identity. If we have Jesus in our souls the outward things have no control over our attitude. jesus breaks those chains and frees us from all those things. Bitterness, anger, carelessness, hate do not have to have control of you. You can live life free of the chains life has put on you.

At some point in life you got to stop letting what has happened to you being an excuse.

Everyday ask yourself:

What will be the consequences of your actions? Will they be positive or negative consequences?

I am going to give you some scenarios and then I want you to reflect on how each scenario has consequences rather good or bad:

You stop and help someone pick up the papers that spill out of their binder.

People are putting down a classmate and you remain silent.

A Cardi B song comes on and you rap it word for word.

You take time to bless your food at lunch

Kindness is not for your Benefit

Ecclesiastes 11:1–2 ESV

Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.

Biblical Points

Do acts of charity expecting nothing in return.

When we do acts of kindness we do them out of the agape of our heart, not doing kindness to gain something. It goes back to what we talked about weeks ago we are not to be worried what those around us are doing. That goes with our kindness, it is not our concern how they respond to our acts of kindness. It is our concern to do the acts of kindness God has called us to.

God will bless you for your acts of kindness.

If you do your acts of kindness with the right heart God will bless you. That blessing may come in this life or the next. That blessing could be physical or spiritual.

Opportunities to show kindness can be cut short by events outside of our control.

Kindness ultimately builds bridges and allows conversations to happen. Conversations lead to opportunities to transform lives. Don’t delay when it comes to people’s souls.

Application

Make it a point to regularly do random acts of kindness.

How awesome would it be if an act of kindness became a trademark for you.

Guard yourself against self-righteous kindness.

Don’t do kind acts with the wrong intentions. Bad intentions ruin your kindness and will cause your blessing to be with hold. Don’t get the hey look at me attitude.

Be kind with a sense of urgency.

Don’t hesitate to do good. If you know something is right to do it, act upon it. You never know where that one act of kindness could lead.

END HERE TONIGHT

Kindness in Our Speech

Ephesians 4:29–32 ESV

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Biblical Points

Guard your speech.

In our lives we should make it a hobby to guard all our actions, but the action that seems to have the most power is our speech. Don’t let your words get away from you.

Speech should be used to build up one another, not to destroy one another.

In reality curse words are more than a list of profanities. How often do you call someone stupid, idiot, moron, etc.? Don’t those words have just as much ability to destroy your witness as profanities?

The Holy Spirit grieves when we do wrong.

It breaks the heart of God to see his children do wrong.

Forgive because Jesus has forgiven you.

You need to fill your speech with grace. You don’t treat people based off of who they are, but who God is.

Application

Let your emotions settle before speaking.

Sometimes that can be as simple as stepping back and taking a deep breathe. Sometimes it is saying I need to walk off for a moment and then we will continue this conversation.

Evaluate how your words impact others.

Take time to think about how you speak to others. How does it make them feel? What feelings do they give to others? Also if you tell someone something long enough they are going to behave that way and believe it is true regardless if it is or isn’t.

A repentant heart grieves over sin.

Be forgiving.

Evaluate what Christ has done for you. After ding that ask yourself why you cannot forgive someone?

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