The Fruit of Kindness

As we go through the fruits of Spirit. Whether you have noticed it or not but each one of the fruits mentioned is a characteristic of God’s nature. Each of these fruits are traits that describe who God is.

Galatians 5:22–23 NKJV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

KINDNESS AND THE CHARACTER OF GOD

In the Old Testament, God is often praised for his kindness. There is a beautiful word in Hebrew—hesed—which is so rich in meaning that it gets translated in many ways.

Very often it is translated as “love,” with an emphasis on the faithfulness that is an essential part of genuine love.

So sometimes hesed is translated “faithful love.”

Sometimes it can mean “loyalty,” when one person acts out of a strong sense of commitment to another person because of the relationship between them.

When God acts with hesed it can mean that he exercises “mercy” toward people who are in a vulnerable or needy situation, so it is quite close to “compassion,” which is another word that occurs very often in the Old Testament.

One of the older ways of translating hesed (e.g. in the KJV) is “loving-kindness”—a beautiful old English double word that I wish we still used.

And often, hesed is simply translated as “kindness,” since it does have that active sense of doing something for another person, something that shows thoughtful love in action.

When God acts in “kindness” (in hesed), it means God is being faithful to his covenant promises, paying careful attention to our needs, acting in generous and merciful love, generously providing everything for our blessing and benefit.

I could give dozens of examples of God’s hesed, but perhaps the most famous is the last verse of the 23rd Psalm.

Psalm 23:6 (NKJV)

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

In the NIV is the word hesed is translated “love”

Psalm 23:6 NIV

6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

David was thinking of God as a shepherd who treats his sheep with kindness, protecting and providing for them.

A shepherd is committed to caring for his sheep, even at his own cost.

And so God will keep his commitment to his “flock,” his people, because God himself is the essence of goodness and kindness.

Since that is what God is like, then those who claim to know God and worship him must show the same character.

KINDNESS AND THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS

If kindness is essentially loving others enough to put their needs before your own, then Jesus’ actions toward others was the purest form of Kindness.

When you begin to look closer at the life and ministry of Christ you see a pattern. A pattern of kindness and sometimes goes unrecognized.

You could call it the “Theology of Interruptions”

Because so many things that Jesus said and did in the Gospels happened because somebody interrupted him when he was actually doing something else.

Yet Jesus responded to these interruptions not with irritations but with kindness and love.

Think of the woman with bleeding, interrupting him on the way to an urgent medical emergency.

Think of the parents bringing their children when his disciples were wanting to get on with their private lessons.

Think of blind Bartimaeus who kept shouting over the crowd until Jesus stopped.

Even in Jesus’ excruciating agony on the cross, he was thinking of the needs of his mother.

And after his resurrection, he knew that hungry fisherman needed a good breakfast after a night at sea.

It is this kind of kindness that must be cultivated in our spiritual life in Christ. It must, like all the fruits of the Spirit become habitual day in and day out.

Which leads us to the our final thought on this matter.

KINDNESS AS A HABIT OF LIFE

Here is what we need to know and remember, that kindness is part of the fruit of the Spirit and that it does not come naturally, (even though it is true that some people seem to be just more naturally kind than others).

But the sort of kindness Paul is referring to is not natural but supernatural, it is spiritual, in the sense that it comes from being filled with God’s Spirit.

Such kindness is fruit (it grows because of the life of the Spirit within us), but it also has to be cultivated. It has to become a habit that builds into our character.

How do you know something has become a habit?

Only when it becomes more natural to say and do what is kind than not to.

It has become a habit when you don’t have to stop and think and check the many negative reasons before offering to help someone else.

It has become a habit if we feel really miserable and self-accusing when, for whatever reason, we fail to do and say what is kind, or (even worse) when we behave in ways that we know were downright unkind.

At such moments we should be challenging ourselves, How could I possibly do that? How could I, as a Christian, be so unkind?

And then, of course, we should come back to the Lord to ask for forgiveness and grace. For we all fail at times.

But if kindness as the fruit of the Spirit is beginning to grow within us, then we will notice the failure far more painfully and want to ask for grace to do better next time.

So as we go out into each day, with its travel and its work, and its constant rubbing of shoulders with other people, why don’t we ask God for opportunities to show kindness?

Who can I thank today—at home, or in shops, or at work, or while traveling?

Where can I give a smile or a word of appreciation, for example, to those who clean the streets?

What will I do if I meet someone in need? Am I prepared in advance to try to help if I can? Have I got some money, or a snack, ready to give?

Who can I show “the kindness of the Lord” to?

Here is something that may help us move in that direction. Actually, it is one of the most challenging combinations of verses that I have come across in terms of personal behavior.

There are two places in Colossians 3 where Paul begins a sentence with, “Whatever you do,” which simply means, “in everything you do”! The first is: Col. 3:17

Colossians 3:17 NKJV

17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Now, to do something “in the name of” Jesus means that I am doing something that he would do if he were present.

It means that I am acting as though Christ himself were acting in and through me.

So the question that this startling text raises in our minds is this: If I were Christ, what would I do for that other person?

The second example from Col 3:23

Colossians 3:23 NKJV

23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,

So that verse raises another startling and balancing question in our minds: If that person were Christ, what would I do? How would I behave right now if that were Christ there in front of me?

Supposing then we lived each day with those two questions in our minds:

• What would I do for people if I were Christ?

• What would I do for people if they were Christ?

Wouldn’t that make a difference in how we treat other people? What lengths of kindness would we show to others if we asked ourselves those questions and lived out the answers?