Kindness

As good and well-established Christians, I'm sure we're all manifesting the fruit of the Spirit in our lives; so, can anyone name the nine fruits of the Spirit? 
Love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Right in the middle appears the word 'kindness'. It's easily overlooked, partly because it's in the middle and partly because it's easily confused with love, goodness and gentleness. In fact, for those of us who were brought up with the 'authorised' version of the Bible, kindness doesn't even appear in the list of fruits; the KJV lists it as 'gentleness' (and gentleness as 'meekness').

But if we look at the life of Jesus, we see that He was often kind to people. Consider Luke 5:12-13 –

12On another occasion, Jesus was in one of the towns, and there was a man full of leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

13Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. "I am willing," he said. "Be made clean." Immediately the leprosy left him.

Lepers were outcasts. They had to stay outside of the community, and, if people come close to them, they had to shout "Unclean!" and "keep away!" Yet this man approached Jesus. He was desperate for healing. Jesus didn't shout at him to go away. He listened. And then, amazingly, He put out His hand and touched him, and healed him. What a demonstration of kindness!

In Matthew 19:13-14, Jesus shows kindness to children, and also to their mothers –

13One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could lay his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.

14But Jesus said, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children." 15And he placed his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left.

Another example is when Jesus was passing through the village of Nain, in Luke 7:11-15 – :

11Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. 12A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow's only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. 13When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. "Don't cry!" he said. 14Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. "Young man," he said, "I tell you, get up." 15Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

No-one asked Jesus to do this miracle. No-one expected it. But Jesus deeply identified with this mother's pain and 'his heart went out to her.'

And, of course, we, too, are recipients of Jesus' kindness. Titus 3:4-7 –

4But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, 5not by works of righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us, through the washing of rebirth and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us richly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7that, being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of everlasting life.

And so, it is not surprising that kindness is a fruit of the Spirit because, when the Spirit dwells within us, He will want to demonstrate through us the kindness that is such a signature of how God acts. As 2 Cor 6:6-7 says:

6We show that we are God's servants by our pure lives, by our understanding, by our patience, and by our kindness. We show it by the Holy Spirit, by genuine love, 7by speaking the truth, and by depending on God's power.

We often associate the word 'kindness' with being nice, but also sometimes say that we have to be cruel to be kind, or we talk about 'tough love', meaning that we sometimes have to be stern or strict to show genuine love. So, I was wondering whether we can find this concept in the Bible, and I think we can. Hebrews 12:11 says:

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, for those who have been trained by it, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace.

Psalm 141:5

Let a righteous one strike me in kindness, and let him chasten me. It is oil for my head; let not my head refuse.

Proverbs 27:6

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.

So, there is a case to be made for being cruel to be kind, but, this is not real cruelty; it is genuine kindness. We can't use it as an excuse for being malicious, or sadistic – it has to be motivated by compassion, and we will probably do it with tears streaming down our faces

Satan specialises in cruelty and he uses fear to control people. Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit and is always motivated by love, but that doesn't mean its wishy-washy, cuddly or candy flossy. It can be serious, sombre and forthright, but, if we are led by the Spirit, we will always be on the right side of the line.

Prayer

"Lord Jesus, thank You for Your kindness. Thank You for Your mercy. Please enable us to overflow with that same kindness and mercy as the Holy Spirit has free rein in us to produce His fruit in us, so that we can reflect Your character and be more like You in all that we think, say and do. We ask so that Your name will be honoured and glorified, and Your Kingdom extended. Amen!"