Be Kind...part 2

I didn't feel like I was finished when I posted

 last week about kindness, so I thought I'd continue it today. 

Hope I don't lose you in wordiness!

Some people equate kindness with tolerance. 

That seems to be the going theme in society today, 

including in churches. 

I've watched, and listened, and lived, and prayed, 

and pondered this over the past few years, 

and I do not think this is what God had in mind when he had

 the apostle Paul pen these words:

"Love is patient, love is kind..."

in 1 Cor. 13.

Sometimes the kindest thing I can do for someone God brings to me who has a festering wound (i.e. character flaw or weakness that continues to trouble them and their loved ones) is to cut it open (gently!) so that the pus can come out of it. However, if God calls me to that, then I am also called to be like Christ who was called to heal the brokenhearted and to bind up their wounds. I am  not Jesus. I cannot heal, actually, like He does, but I can bring my friend to Him, and I can pour oil and wine into his wounds and bind them up in His name. This is part of the Great Commission (teach them all that He commanded). This is kindness. In James, we are told that if we see our brother has a need,

and turn away from it, then we do not love. I think this includes seeing a need of heart 

that God points to and says, "Go tell them they can be free in this". If we do not obey Him,

do we really love and is it really kindness?

However, to do this requires me to be emptied of myself so that I can love like Jesus does. This kind of love does not practice control of others nor is it oppressive and insistent that others apply Scripture in the exact detail that I do.

Kindness...I don't naturally know where it is kinder to not help someone because it would be enabling him/her to continue to in his/her unwholesome lifestyle and where I am called to help even if it seems I am enabling him/her. But I am blessed to know the One who does know and if I simply obey Him, then I am confident that He will (and He has in the past) give the wisdom needed to act in every situation in the way He would have me to. 

I do not ever need to be rude. 

Love is never rude, according to Paul's counsel in 1 Cor. 13. 

Kindness is the opposite of rudeness. 

Kindness requires me to regard each of my fellow men as I

 regard myself. If I cannot do that, 

then I am proud and selfish and need a major attitude adjustment.

I just wanted to share this, 

because I really didn't think that the first post 

on kindness was complete without it.

Above all, let there be charity,

 in the which God's perfection 

can be lived thru us in Christ Jesus. 

Love,

Marcia