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Kindness - Page 2
Jesus didn’t let them stop him from doing what he came to do. He healed the man:
“Then the Pharisees went out, held a council against him, how they might destroy him” (Matt. 12:9-14).
A couple of good questions to ask ourselves every so often is, “am I portraying the love of Christ?” “Am I trying to build-up or am I out to destroy?” The apostle Paul admonishes us in his letter to the Ephesians:
“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph. 4:31-32).
When Jesus said he came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it, he showed them that there are ways to kill (thou shalt not kill) other than taking someone's life. One of the most common being an attack on a person’s credibility, a campaign to undermine everything they are trying to do by assassination of character and smearing their good name. Smear campaigns are not of God. We need to keep in mind that in order to sling mud one must first become muddy. Let me challenge all of my Christian friends to stay full of the Holy Spirit and take inventory from time to time. Listen to Paul:
“Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith; prove yourselves. Know ye not yourselves how Jesus Christ is in you...Now I pray to God that ye do no evil...Finally, brethren...be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you” (II Cor. 13:5-11).
Kindness is such a needed virtue in this crowded, busy world and it is also a must in the life of a born-again Christian. Years ago, as a young Christian, my zeal and newly acquired knowledge of the Word plunged me into earnestly desiring and praying for the manifestations of the gifts of the spirit in my life; faith, healings, miracles, prophesy, etc. Since the Bible plainly teaches us to desire these gifts there is nothing wrong with that. Yet at that point there were many of the fruits of the spirit lacking in my Christian walk. The fruit of the spirit being the evidence that the Holy Spirit dwells within us: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.
The way we know an apple tree is an apple tree is because it bears apples. The way we know a Christian is by the fruit he bears. Many times we try to put the cart before the horse, we want to move mountains and be a powerhouse for God without the painstaking effort of really becoming Christ-like.
There isn’t any excitement or glamour in learning daily to bridle our tongues, prefer our brother, and love our family and friends when they are completely unlovable. We don’t like to suffer the adversities that produces patience and builds character. In fact, we don’t want to have to face our own weaknesses, yet it is the only way to grow in grace. Daily we need to reach out to the Father and seek His wisdom and guidance for we are not sufficient within ourselves. We need His divine counsel. If we could view the Christian walk as a school of wisdom, an ever-learning, growing, process, we could all become spiritual giants!
There is no way to receive a college degree without first serving time in the elementary. There is no way for us to become spiritual giants if we try to bypass the basics; loving our fellowman and being KIND one to another.
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