The Fruit of Kindness

Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior that involves a real or perceived imbalance of power. Bullies can abuse verbally, socially, physically, and in the 21st century, they can bully online. But bullying is not a 21st century phenomenon, but has been around since the beginning of time. Jesus Christ was bullied by the religious leaders of his day who were seeking to hold on to their power over the people. As Jesus hung on the cross, he experienced the fullness of their bullying. But God has not called us to be bullies, but rather to treat people with kindness! It's one of the fruit of the Spirit-- the fruit of kindness. Our God is kind to all. In His common grace His sun shines on everyone and He sends rain on the just and the unjust. In fact, every man owes his existence to the kindness of God. Jesus was kind as well. He treated people with respect and compassionate love. And so we too are to be kind to one another and tenderhearted towards all. We become kind as we view ourselves realistically as God views us. In lowliness of mind, as we esteem others better than ourselves, we will treat them with kindness. We will treat them as we would want to be treated, thus living in accords with the 'Golden Rule". With kindness, we speak to others as we would want them to speak to us and we treat them as we would like to be treated. If we are to be kind to all, we must have a tender, compassionate heart towards all, not closed to those who may be less fortunate or who might not even like us. But to do so we must rely on the Spirit to produce in us the fruit of kindness!