May the LORD now show you kindness and faithfulness, and I too will show you the same favor because you have done this. 2 Samuel 2:6
“Now, now, be kind,” our pastor admonished our eight-year-old son. Church had just dismissed and as we stopped for a minute of conversation with Pastor Kirby on the front steps, our two sons squabbled nearby.
The argument started up again as we headed back home. “Remember what Pastor Kirby said?” I asked.
“Be kind,” Ian, our oldest, said with a sigh.
I’d heard that same phrase uttered by my parents when I was growing up. “Be kind.”
And by my Sunday school teacher. “Be kind.”
And on the playground at elementary school. “Kids, be kind.” I suppose “kind” meant we kids were just supposed to stop fighting and start sharing.
But what does that word really mean? I looked it up in my Bible concordance. There are tons of references to kindness and it surprised me that most of them have to do with God’s kindness to us. When I think of being kind, it’s about me or showing kindness to our children or our neighbors. Things like, “share the road” or “let the other fellow go first” or “give your brother the bigger half of the cookie.”
The Oxford Dictionary defines kindness as acts of friendliness or generosity.
God’s kindness goes way beyond our small acts. Titus states, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of self-righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.”
Can you imagine sacrificing your life for one of your neighbors and then simply calling it kindness? That’s a much greater concept of the word than I usually consider as friendliness or generosity.
God’s kindness demonstrates a higher way of loving than simply taking turns sitting in the front seat, or sharing a cookie. For me, it might mean foregoing eating out in a nice restaurant so I have some extra dollars to give to someone in need. For you, showing kindness might mean something else.
Our heavenly Father calls us to love Him and to love others. So, let’s “be kind.”
Dena Netherton is freelance author who loves to write about her Christian faith. She has written for many Christian publications and posts a bi-weekly blog called God ‘n Me. Dena and her husband are active in their church as musicians and teachers. They live in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
