Kindness

What is the Fruit of the Holy Spirit?

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. (Gal. 5:22-23)

All of these are difficult to do. It’s not easy to be loving or patient, but one thing that I think we are specifically lacking is kindness.

We can be a youth group that is unkind; and that breaks my heart. I’m not just saying, “you all,” because I’m not innocent of this either. I can regularly say things without thinking or to be funny that actually come out as mean and unkind.

I don’t want that to be the case anymore: for me or for us. I don’t want anybody to be able to look at me or at our group and see people who are unkind.

And so, we have a job to do. The job we have is to be kinder people by the end of the night.

So how do we get there?

First, we need to define kindness.

What is Kindness?

Nelson’s Def.

“God’s loyal love and favor toward His people.” - Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary

My def.

Kindness is the actionable love and care that God has towards His creation, and the love and care that Christians must have towards God’s creation.

God is incredibly kind to us.

Psalm 36:7 “How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”

Psalm 117:2 “For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!”

God cares for us, He sustains us, He makes us to live, He created us, God is so very kind to you!

And so, we are to be kind as well!

Eph. 4:32 “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

Kindness is easy to do towards people you like, but what about the people you don’t?

There are people in your school, your teams, and probably even this group that you have a hard time being kind to.

Luke 6:32-36 ““If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”

Anyone can be kind to those who you like, but it takes a lot more to be kind to those who you have issues with, but that’s what we do!

But then, in preparing this talk, I had a question that came up.

Why Should I Be Kind?

In processing this question, I came up with 10 different reasons.

I think though, that there’s three main ways that we can think of why we should be kind.

Self.

We could be kind because I want others to be kind to me, or because it feels good to be kind.

But that doesn’t really hold up, does it?

I could also feel good by being a jerk who can get the last laugh.

Others.

We could be kind because it’s nice to others. Other people like when kindness is shown, and people who receive kindness feel loved, which is good right?

But, once again, that doesn’t really hold up.

Sure, I can be kind to kind people, but what about the jerks? They don’t deserve my kindness, they’re mean, they’ve hurt me in the past!

God.

Or, we could be kind because God was kind to me. We could be kind because God tells us to be kind. WE could be kind because we know that God showed us incredible kindness in sending His Son to die for us even though we didn’t earn it at all.

That means something!

If we believed that, we could be kind because others deserve kindness because they are loved by God. We could be kind because when I’m kind I get to be more like Jesus. We could be kind because God has been so kind to me that I can’t help but share that kindness with the world, especially those around us!

So, be kind, not because I’m telling you to, but because God loves you and showed so much kindness to you that we shouldn’t be able to help but be kind to others.

Action Moment.

Think of anyone who has not been kind to you recently.

Forgive them.

Don’t write off the pain that you experienced, but don’t hold on to the anger at that person any longer.

Forgive them in the way that Jesus forgave you.

Think of the people who you have been unkind to.

Apologize in your heart and repent. Admit that you were wrong to God and be willing to own up to it. After this, maybe you can talk to them here or at home to apologize to them face to face.

Let’s pray for each other.