Got Kindness?






"I expect to pass through this world but once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do, to any fellow being let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again".
Stephen Grellet


I have always loved that quote, from the first time I read it. Kindness is so important to the harmony and rhythm of life. Without it...life is, well to continue with my music metaphor, out of tune, dull...flat.

I have been on the receiving end of kindness countless times in my life.

Years ago while on my way to preach in Rocky Ford, Colorado (Southeastern Colorado) our car decided not to go any more! I was 30 miles from Rocky Ford! I explained my dilemma to a farmer, who promptly loaned his car to me... the stranger preacher, at his door!


I kept that preaching date, arriving just in time, however, the passing of time ( It happened more than 20 years ago) has never diminished my appreciation and awe, at the memory, of that profound expression of kindness!

Currently I am serving a most loving and kind congregation in Southwestern Wyoming. From accommodations to friendships, and emotional support (In my sisters home going) I have come to treasure these wonderful people!

In fact in my office at this very moment are four ripening home grown, tomatoes, two jars of(Home Canned)green beans and two big jars of home made grape juice!

For breakfast today our ministerial assistant brought me two awesome "Home made" breakfast burritos, (Payoff for her Dallas Cowboys, losing to the Denver Bronco's...but I digress). Not long after breakfast, a church member brought a delicious desert for me to taste! Gifts of kindness from kind people!

And it all happened to me withen the last 24 hours!

Kindness of course is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
(Galatians 5:22).


When the Lord Jesus Christ has you, you have His Spirit! His people should be characterized by kindness.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.(Ephesians 4:32).

In some the "Milk of human kindness has curdled" for those people I feel genuinely sorry.

When I meet people who say they belong to the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords who are not kind...I can't help but wonder, if there really His, why are they not like Him?

Can non-believers be kind? Yes! But an unkind Christian is a contradiction in terms...you might as well be talking about a heavenly devil!

Jesus in John chapter 8 is facing critics (Religious Leaders called Pharisees) who challenge His motives. He responds to their biting sarcasm with this reminder...

"He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God." (John 8: 47).

People who belong to Him, hear Him, they will be like Him!

For this King's Kid my life, my success, is defined by my devotion to the Lord, my Love for my wife, and my family, and the kindness I show to the people whose life door I pass by.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said it this way:

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

Got Kindness? If you know the Lord...you will!

And you will be a success!

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