Kindness To A Weary World

As I type this, no one knows the outcome of the presidential election. No matter who you voted for, there is an anxiety to this moment.

I haven’t been in and out of a grocery store or a conversation in the last week with someone who hasn’t brought it up.

How do we wait? If you look around, most people wait with anxiety and thin skin.  How does the Spirit of God want us to enter into this moment? With patience and kindness. We all know we are supposed to love our neighbor, but how?  

It’s interesting that in 1 Corinthians 13:4, Paul says that love is patient and love is kind. In Galatians 5, he lists love as the first fruit of the Spirit, and then lists patience and kindness as follow ups.  

I’ve been thinking about that word kindness a lot this week. I want it to be more than a spiritual word that I say and believe but never practice. In a practical sense, kindness is when I do something I don’t have to do, but I just choose to do it for the benefit of another.  What I’ve noticed this week, whether it’s a nervous neighbor or an anxious child, is that when I choose to bring kindness I also choose to bring calmness. No one can resist kindness. Perhaps that’s why Paul says it’s the kindness of God that leads us to repentance, not His wrath.

Let us bring kindness to someone today. It will bring calm to a weary world. It will bring peace to the anxious.

Pastor Jared

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