Ephesians 4:32 AMPC
And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you.
Kindness is steadfast love expressed in actions, the fifth fruit of the Holy Spirit according to Galatians 5:22, the production that is the primary responsibility of the Holy Spirit. It’s our dependence on the Holy Spirit that produces the overflow of kindness that we express daily by his prompting.
Kindness is the presence and sign of a loving heart. Kind people are usually pleasant, gracious and appreciative of little things.
Random means to do something without method or conscious decision, in an unfamiliar or unspecified way, just for the sake of doing it and with no ulterior motive or expectation.
Our society is starved for affection, goodness, good deeds, and kindness, so there is a desperate need daily for random acts of kindness.
God sending Jesus to come to die for all humanity is not random, but the highest act of kindness ever recorded.
We’re supposed to be kind to people! Deliberate or random acts of kindness should be offered to those around us regardless of what they need, as long as we have it or are able.
Why should we be kind to each other? Simply because the Lord commands us to be kind to others. And Jesus reiterated that in Mathew 7:12, do also to others what you want them to do for you. This is theologically known as “the Golden Rule.”
Kindness doesn’t have to be grand gestures, it doesn’t have to be expensive and it shouldn’t only be done to those we know but to anyone who needs a bit of kindness and we shouldn’t be kind in return to only those who’ve been kind to us.
Everyone deserves a little bit of kindness!
Ruth didn’t think she deserved kindness, judging from the question she asked Boaz in Ruth 2:10-12, she wondered why Boaz would act kindly toward her, a foreigner, as she referred to herself, implying that foreigners shouldn’t expect kindness but Boaz’s response tells us that kindness attracts kindness.
Our God is kind and gracious, we must emulate Him in expressing kindness to all men, and Isaiah 63:7 encourages us to even recall and recount God’s acts of kindness towards us.
So many occurrences in our lives that we would like to put down as coincidence, are in truth, random acts of God’s kindness.
For so many of us, especially Christians, practising random acts of kindness is a religious ritual, it is what a good person, which we all pretend to be does. Sadly, a lot of time we express kindness, it’s to look good and not necessarily to be kind to the ones we’re been kind to.
Social media has made it even more difficult to be kind without ulterior motives, we tote the cameras ourselves, documenting our show of kindness to the needy while making sure we announce what we’re doing to get the right response and applause, but God says in Matthew 6:3-4, not to allow our right hand know what our left is doing, in other words, don’t announce your kindness.
God didn’t show us any kindness because we deserve it but because of His mercy says Titus 3:4-5. Learn to practise random acts of kindness, for according to Proverbs 11:17, it nourishes the soul.
Shalom
