Kindness

Kindness requires us to be friendly and generous to people, showing them loving consideration in words and action. So it’s certainly not an exclusive quality of Christians. Paul en route to Rome received kindness from his guard and following his shipwreck on Malta he was shown “unusual kindness” by the islanders (Acts 27:3; 28:2). Kindness is hard-wired into our better nature.

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That’s because we are all made in God’s image and kindness is a key characteristic of God. The Lord exercises and delights in “kindness, justice and righteousness on earth” (Jer.9:24). His kindness flows out of his unfailing love and faithfulness (Jer.31:3) and is seen in his care and provision for all humanity – “He has shown you kindness by giving you rain, crops and food” (Acts 14:17).

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Supremely, God’s love is “expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (Eph.2:7) through which we are saved (Tit.3:4-5). And having experienced his kindness we are called to be kind to others, just as he is kind to us (Eph.4:32). The Holy Spirit works to produce this fruit in us, and once again it involves our active co-operation with him: “Clothe yourselves with... kindness” (Col.3:12) i.e. look for ways to be kind.