The Transforming Power of Kindness
It is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance” (Romans 2:4)
Through many centuries, religion has used the wrath or judgment of God to scare people into heaven. Such a motivation amplifies a sense of condemnation, guilt, and shame upon its recipients. As a result, the focus becomes fixated on our sinful imperfection and the need to appease a holy God by proving ourselves through legalistic acts of self-righteousness. This angry, wrathful, judgmental God was the primary perception that the Pharisees believed and portrayed to first-century society. Rather than painting a picture of a God who is love, they painted a negative view of a deity that was always judging His people and withholding His blessing from those who did not measure up to the religious standards. Unfortunately, this religious misconception has plagued the hearts of many through the ages preventing them from discovering the goodness and loving grace of God.
It was this judgmental perception of God that Jesus Himself wanted to break. He wanted to demonstrate that the true nature of God was love and that from this amazing principle flowed His goodness and kindness. It is through the atmosphere of His love, that God desires to woo us into a relationship with Him so that our hearts would turn from our sinful and shameful ways and then pursue a life that would love God and the world around us. That is why it is kindness, not judgment that leads us to repentance. The fruit of kindness walks in the opposite spirit of judgment. While judgment rejects and isolates, kindness accepts and embraces. God’s kindness beckons us with overtures of His grace and mercy. This sacrificial love was ultimately demonstrated in that “while we were yet sinners,” Christ died in our place (Romans 5:8).
Kindness is the fruit and expression of unconditional love. It is always willing to go out of the way to bless another. It is not self-seeking but looks to the provision and interest of others. It naturally desires to embrace the unlovely, the orphan-hearted, the deprived, and those rejected as outcasts. Kindness will turn the other cheek and go the extra mile, to journey with others into the breakthrough of love. Goodness and mercy are attached to the DNA of kindness. By seeking to always do good, kindness will give value to others and will deliberately inconvenience itself to go out of its way for the benefit of another. Thus kindness will always regard others more highly than itself and will seek to serve and prefer others.
From the word kindness, we also find the word “kin” which means family. Kindness is treating others like family. It was God’s desire that our identity would first be grounded in love through a family environment. The foundation of family creates a welcome that is expressed through hospitality, drawing people into the intimacy and safety of home. Kin develops into kindred, another word that describes the nature of kindness. The word kindred speaks of a common unity (community) that unites others in relationships and common values. Kindness has this ability to join hearts together.
The power of kindness unites and gives value to individuals and communities. Its very nature is best demonstrated when goodness and blessing are not deserved. Jesus tells us to bless those who curse us (Luke 6:28). This spiritual principle will bring freedom and peace into your heart. Practically walking in kindness despite difficult circumstances is the choice that love always makes. Kindness was designed to soften the hardest heart and turn others from shame back to love. Therefore living from a place of kindness will bring you greater joy.
