When was the last time you were accused of being kind? “Love is kind [Greek, chrēsteuomai, obliging, willing to help]” (1Corinthians 13:4 NET). I noticed a clip from a television show, where a doctor was speaking rather abruptly to a very young patient. I immediately thought of the expression “kindly doctor” as what we would rather see in a physician’s bedside manner. How often do we see people in public, who seem to have a scowl on their face, like the sun’s in their eyes? But, do we do that, too, so others won’t think they can run over us, or that we smile for no reason and are senile? I ran across a great grandmother volunteering at a food distribution center. She had a kindly face, and I don’t think she was senile. Kindness is not a look, but a heart attitude, which truly “doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil” (1Corinthians 13:5 KJV). Only the Spirit of God can work that in a human heart! LORD, make it so in me through the power of Jesus’ name. Amen.
Brotherly Kindness
Kindness: A Measure of God’s Presence
Margaret Mead, the famous cultural anthropologist, not necessarily known as an apologist for God, is said to have made the observation to a student that she considered the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture to be a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. In the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. No animal survives long enough for the bone to heal without the assistance of someone to bind the wound, provide safety, and promote recovery. “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32 KJV).
Why Doesn’t Everyone Finish?
Why doesn’t everyone finish their Pilgrim’s Progress journey to the Celestial City? “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14 KJV). A common saying in the world, ‘If it were easy, everyone would do it,’ makes a lot of practical sense. How does anyone know they are His chosen few? Peter answers that question. “2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3 According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity [Greek, agapē, love]. 8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall” (2Peter 1:2-10 KJV). Maranatha!
We Need A Miracle 