The fruit of the Spirit is kindess.
OCTOBER 7, 2007 (SUNDAY) – The fruit of the Spirit is kindness.
The first scripture that comes to my mind when I think of kindness is Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (NIV).
Kindness is an attribute of God mentioned often in the Bible. Often I hear people praising God for His blessings, and they say, “He is better to me than I deserve.” In other words, they feel God is kind to them.
This trait is to become active in us, God’s children. His Spirit lives in us and produces fruit. That fruit is the Christian life as it is lived day by day. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Kindness is a part of that cluster of spiritual fruit.
As the Holy Spirit produces fruit in our lives, we are channels of God’s blessings upon this world. Being kind to others is part of God’s work in us and through us.
It is difficult to think of a Christian being unkind to anyone. Such behavior is a denial of the God he professes to love and serve. Kindness in the Bible mostly refers to God. Showing kindness to others is walking in the footsteps of the Lord.
Recently Dale Pogue wrote a poem about Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son and Saul’s grandson. He was physically handicapped. Saul had thought of David as his enemy, but Jonathan had loved him as a brother. Now Saul and Jonathan are both dead, and David has become king. He asks, “Is there no one still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?” He is told of Mephibosheth. Then the king was kind to Mephibosheth. He made sure that he had lands, crops, servants, and a place at the king’s table along with David’s own sons. The word, “kindness,” appears more than once in 2 Samuel 9. David showed kindness to Jonathan’s son.
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Quoting the last two lines of Dale Pogue’s Mephibosheth poem:
“David showed a godly trait. His love for God came through.
The Son of David showed the same, He died for me and you.”
The fruit of the Spirit is kindness.