Serving with Kindness | Part One
“Kindness” and “Niceness” are not actually the same thing.
When I look back over my life, my inability to see beyond “niceness” was actually a barrier to my coming to faith in Jesus.
It’s because, in our unredeemed state, we can only ever see things behaviourally and from a human, and self-focussed perspective.
So, like many people, I simply saw Christians as self-proclaimed “do-gooders” and therefore no different to my self-proclaimed “niceness”. I helped people, supported charity works, tried to be nice. I did not need to be a Christian in order to be nice.
Looking back, I now see that my “niceness” was both conditional and selective. I did not continue in “niceness” to people who I considered “not nice”. My “niceness” did not extend to all people – only those who expressed appreciation for it!
Being nice to people is not a bad thing; it is simply insufficient. Exercising good manners, courtesy, smiling and welcoming people, making sure that we use engaging words are all things that parents, teachers and others need to teach their children.
Kindness has a deeper motivation and a greater cost.
God is not simply “nice” to us; He is kindness itself.
At the heart of how we serve one another with kindness, is knowing and enjoying the undeserved kindness of the Father toward us.
As Christ, by His Spirit, shows kindness to us, through His Word and in our lives, He also forms us into instruments of His kindness to others.
“Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you[1]
Be kind, tender-hearted and forgiving… if we stopped there, niceness might be our motivation… but Paul goes on “forgiving one another as Christ in God forgave you” – that is way beyond niceness. That is absolute sacrifice!
When we understand the great kindness of God who forgives unworthy people; we will seek to serve with strong kindness.
Blessings
Brian
[1] .” Ephesians 4:32