Friday, December 22, 2017

December 22 Thought for the day...being kind




We don't think much about kindness these days, but for Christians especially during Christmas, this should be an easy thing to do. Sometimes what happens in the midst of celebrating the birth of our savior the one who loved us enough to die for us, we lose the meaning. We can get short-tempered, anxious, or even mean. Today I want us to keep kindness in mind.

In Ephesians 4:32 Paul writes this

"Be Kind to each other..."

This simple phrase will help our Christmas celebration to be so much more amazing. What Paul states with "be," our English doesn't quite express the full meaning. The word Paul uses signifies, constantly becoming, always being, in other words, to always be in the process of becoming.

In this case what we are constantly becoming is "kind."  Paul chose a special Greek word here for kind. It goes beyond what we think of as kind, to also mean, useful, good, worthy, and benevolent. It is the same word that he used in describing the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22.

A way to interpret this scripture that is entirely in line with the meaning is, "If something is important to my loved one, I'll do my best to make it important to me."

Kindness is not something we generally grasp overnight, but it is here, a command from God for us. It can be hard to keep this in mind with all the expectations we have, but a little kindness can trump much preparation and be remembered far longer as well.

Have a Merry Christmas and a kind one as well!

No comments: