“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”
Galatians 5:22–23

“Why are people so mean? Whatever happened to kindness?” asked the clerk at the grocery store after the customer in front of me was very rude. I have to agree with her that kindness is something that is lacking in our society today, but it ought to be evident in the lives of Christians. There is really no reason for us ever to be rude.

Kindness is one of the characteristics of God Himself. It is often connected with His mercy:

“And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation’” (Ex. 34:6–7).

Kindness is one of the aspects of the fruit of the Spirit that is to be displayed in our lives. The Greek word used in the New Testament is chrestotes, which conveys the idea of a tender concern for others. It is a genuine desire to treat others gently, just as the Lord has treated us.

We read of the kindness of God in Ephesians 2:4–7:

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

We are instructed to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:32). Paul also reminded Timothy, “A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient” (2 Tim. 2:24).

We need only look at the life of the Lord Jesus as the perfect example of what kindness should look like. He always had time to show kindness to the leper whom everyone else considered unclean (Matt. 8:1–4), to the blind, to the lame, and to the outcasts.

We read in Acts 10:38 that “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”

Anchor For Today:
We are His hands, His feet, and His mouthpieces in a hurting world. Be kind—everyone is carrying a burden and hurting in one way or another.