"In an outburst of anger, I hid My face from you for a moment,
But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,"
Says the Lord your Redeemer.
--Isaiah 54:8
They say that Christmas is the season of "kindness." Hallmark movies, pop songs, and television commercials wrap "kindness" in a box like a pair of warm slippers, making it so fluffy and pleasing that we forget that the world's version of kindness is mercenary--meant only, in the end, to make us feel better about ourselves. Culture anesthetizes us into thinking that our lives have meaning just because we watched someone else on TV being kind and thought it was a great idea.
Don't settle for that. There is real kindness. And it is defined by the heart of the One who made us.
And His kindness is much bigger than the warm fuzzy feelings we get from television. In fact, it is not for the faint of heart.
I want to show you some stories from the Old Testament where the word "kindness" is used (at least in my NASB translation). I'll give the brief run-down; you can go read the stories for yourselves.
Genesis 40:14--"Only keep me in mind when it goes well with you, and please do me a kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house."
Joseph (the dreamer) was thrown unjustly into prison, and he interpreted dreams for his fellow inmates, one of whom was cupbearer to Pharaoh. He asked for kindness from the cupbearer: that he would wield his influence and somehow get Joseph out of prison, where he was condemned to rot forever unless someone decided to let him go free.
Joshua 2:12--"Now therefore, please swear to me by the Lord, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father's household, and give me a pledge of truth, and spare my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death."
I want to show you some stories from the Old Testament where the word "kindness" is used (at least in my NASB translation). I'll give the brief run-down; you can go read the stories for yourselves.
Genesis 40:14--"Only keep me in mind when it goes well with you, and please do me a kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house."
Joseph (the dreamer) was thrown unjustly into prison, and he interpreted dreams for his fellow inmates, one of whom was cupbearer to Pharaoh. He asked for kindness from the cupbearer: that he would wield his influence and somehow get Joseph out of prison, where he was condemned to rot forever unless someone decided to let him go free.
Joshua 2:12--"Now therefore, please swear to me by the Lord, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father's household, and give me a pledge of truth, and spare my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death."
Rahab, the prostitute, gave shelter to the Israelite spies who came into the promised land to check it out. In this verse, she asked for a "kind favor": "Could you please not kill me or my family when you take over, even though you're totally going to slaughter everyone else?" The Israelites did spare the lives of Rahab and her family, even though they ruthlessly killed everyone else in the city. That type of blood and gore story isn't really what we curl up with hot cocoa to watch on Christmas Eve television....but it is real.
1 Samuel 20:15--"You shall not cut off your lovingkindness from my house forever, not even when the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth."
Jonathan made a pact with David that he would protect him, and would receive that same kindness in return. But this wasn't just a BFF kind of vow. It was serious. Jonathan's father, Saul, wanted David dead. He went to extremes to hunt him down in order to kill him. So when Jonathan said he would "show kindness" to David, he literally meant that he would preserve his life if he could--and that the two would do so for each other and their households forever. Moral of the story: kindness can save your life.
2 Samuel 9:1--Then David said, "Is there yet anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?"
David became king in the place of Saul. True to his word to his friend Jonathan, he sent and found Mephibosheth, Jonathan's only surviving son, who was crippled in his feet. In this day, a new king would exterminate all the relatives of the former king so that they would never challenge his right to the throne. So when the messengers came for Mephibosheth, he went and appeared before the king thinking that he was going to be executed. Instead, however, David showed him kindness by not only letting him live, but blessing him with an inheritance out of love for his father, Jonathan. It was a breach of royal protocol that probably shocked the people. And it is one of the reasons that David was called "a man after God's own heart"--because he saw an orphan, and showed him kindness where he expected death.
These are just four examples, and they all feature human-to-human kindness. We haven't even gotten to the God-kindness yet! But I think these human examples outline a couple principles about kindness for us, because they are similar in two ways:
1. They all deal with serious consequences. Old Testament kindness isn't giving someone a cookie or dropping 20 cents into a donation tub. Although those are good things to do, let's be honest: we're really doing them because we want to feel better about ourselves, and we're not sacrificing anything to do it. No, this version of kindness is rescuing the condemned from certain death or hopeless imprisonment when they have no other way out. That's life-or-death kindness.
2. They all show someone in authority helping someone of little or no importance. A prisoner, a prostitute, a crippled son in hiding, a wanted man with a price on his head. Kings and conquerors decided to help people who could not repay them, even though it was inconvenient and even contrary to social and cultural norms to do so. (I would like to point out that David was, in his lifetime, both the rescued and the rescuer, which is perhaps why his compassion on Jonathan's son was so great.)
We all have authority in some area. Maybe we are not kings, able to literally give the word and save someone from execution; maybe we are not the rich, who can give out much-needed supplies to whole villages single-handedly.
But we all have the authority of Christ. And that makes us kings. You may not be able to bust Joseph out of prison; but you DO have the authority to speak blessings into other people's lives, to smile at someone, to pray for someone--to preach the gospel, that some might be saved from death. If you believe in Jesus Christ, you have more authority than the world. (You can look that up in the Bible for yourself.)
The Lord has not only given us authority as daughters and sons, He has given each of us authority in particular areas--certain relationships, environments, and spheres.
Don't underestimate yourself.
You really can change someone's life. You really can turn their circumstances around.
The world is full of dying people. And we have been given authority to ease their condition, to listen to them, to hold them, and to tell them the message that will turn their hearts back to the Father who loves them. It IS life-or-death kindness. And something as small as an encouraging word can bring all the power of God that got Joseph out of prison and saved Rahab's life. Just stopping to acknowledge someone else--someone unnoticed and ignored--and give him or her your sacrifice of time. You don't have to; you choose to. Like these kind men of the Bible, you will lose something in the process, or it isn't kindness.
But if you know the kindness that was shown to you, then you will think twice about passing an opportunity for kindness by.
Like David, we know how to rescue, because we have been rescued. (But more on that in Part 2!)
1 Samuel 20:15--"You shall not cut off your lovingkindness from my house forever, not even when the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth."
Jonathan made a pact with David that he would protect him, and would receive that same kindness in return. But this wasn't just a BFF kind of vow. It was serious. Jonathan's father, Saul, wanted David dead. He went to extremes to hunt him down in order to kill him. So when Jonathan said he would "show kindness" to David, he literally meant that he would preserve his life if he could--and that the two would do so for each other and their households forever. Moral of the story: kindness can save your life.
2 Samuel 9:1--Then David said, "Is there yet anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?"
David became king in the place of Saul. True to his word to his friend Jonathan, he sent and found Mephibosheth, Jonathan's only surviving son, who was crippled in his feet. In this day, a new king would exterminate all the relatives of the former king so that they would never challenge his right to the throne. So when the messengers came for Mephibosheth, he went and appeared before the king thinking that he was going to be executed. Instead, however, David showed him kindness by not only letting him live, but blessing him with an inheritance out of love for his father, Jonathan. It was a breach of royal protocol that probably shocked the people. And it is one of the reasons that David was called "a man after God's own heart"--because he saw an orphan, and showed him kindness where he expected death.
These are just four examples, and they all feature human-to-human kindness. We haven't even gotten to the God-kindness yet! But I think these human examples outline a couple principles about kindness for us, because they are similar in two ways:
1. They all deal with serious consequences. Old Testament kindness isn't giving someone a cookie or dropping 20 cents into a donation tub. Although those are good things to do, let's be honest: we're really doing them because we want to feel better about ourselves, and we're not sacrificing anything to do it. No, this version of kindness is rescuing the condemned from certain death or hopeless imprisonment when they have no other way out. That's life-or-death kindness.
2. They all show someone in authority helping someone of little or no importance. A prisoner, a prostitute, a crippled son in hiding, a wanted man with a price on his head. Kings and conquerors decided to help people who could not repay them, even though it was inconvenient and even contrary to social and cultural norms to do so. (I would like to point out that David was, in his lifetime, both the rescued and the rescuer, which is perhaps why his compassion on Jonathan's son was so great.)
We all have authority in some area. Maybe we are not kings, able to literally give the word and save someone from execution; maybe we are not the rich, who can give out much-needed supplies to whole villages single-handedly.
But we all have the authority of Christ. And that makes us kings. You may not be able to bust Joseph out of prison; but you DO have the authority to speak blessings into other people's lives, to smile at someone, to pray for someone--to preach the gospel, that some might be saved from death. If you believe in Jesus Christ, you have more authority than the world. (You can look that up in the Bible for yourself.)
The Lord has not only given us authority as daughters and sons, He has given each of us authority in particular areas--certain relationships, environments, and spheres.
Don't underestimate yourself.
You really can change someone's life. You really can turn their circumstances around.
The world is full of dying people. And we have been given authority to ease their condition, to listen to them, to hold them, and to tell them the message that will turn their hearts back to the Father who loves them. It IS life-or-death kindness. And something as small as an encouraging word can bring all the power of God that got Joseph out of prison and saved Rahab's life. Just stopping to acknowledge someone else--someone unnoticed and ignored--and give him or her your sacrifice of time. You don't have to; you choose to. Like these kind men of the Bible, you will lose something in the process, or it isn't kindness.
But if you know the kindness that was shown to you, then you will think twice about passing an opportunity for kindness by.
Like David, we know how to rescue, because we have been rescued. (But more on that in Part 2!)
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.--Hosea 11:3-4 (ESV)
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