I was reading a story on Facebook the other morning from a woman who found an old man with Alzheimer’s lost in the grocery store looking for his wife. After finding a phone in his pocket, she called his daughter and waited with him until she arrived. The last sentence in this post was “kindness doesn’t cost anything.”
That post made me sad. Not because the story was sad, but because people were “celebrating” it as if it was this rare occurrence rather than what should be an everyday common part of life. Perhaps they were correct to do so. It seems our culture now has lost a lot of its kindness.
The child of God, the disciple of Christ Jesus, is always to be kind. The Holy Spirit, with our cooperation, produces the kindness fruit in us. “The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” [Galatians 5:22-23 NLT]
A few years ago, when I was looking to purchase a car. After a long day of touring lots, I ended up at a dealership in Nampa. While browsing the lot, a young salesman joined me. He started asking a lot of questions and somehow, we got around to the fact that I was a Christian pastor. This young man was gay, and an immediate look of dread passed over his face when he heard I was a pastor. He took a step back as if unsure what I might say or do.
I smiled and we stood in the parking lot for a long time just talking about my life and about his. I told him I could sense how much God loved him. When it was time to leave, I put my arms around him and told him again how much God loved him and how Jesus died for him. He hugged me in return.
It cost me nothing to be kind that day. It still costs nothing to be kind. And I find that kindness prepares a heart to receive what it might not otherwise.
