The Fruit of the Spirit: Kindness

Galatians 5:22-23

Have you ever done an egg toss or a water balloon toss? They are fun to watch because someone is going to drop their egg or balloon. Then there is going to be a splat and the contents will usually get on the receiver. Over time the participants have to take steps back increasing the distance and also the amount of force that has to be used to get the object to the receiver. This makes it more difficult to catch without breaking. The person doing the catching must have soft hands. If not, the egg or balloon will burst when they try to catch it. Another way of saying this is that they must have a gentle touch.

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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

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As tough as some of us try to act, people are like the egg or the water balloon in the game above. Some of us can handle being tossed around more than others, but eventually we will all reach our breaking point. When that happens, sometimes there might be waterworks, while other times we explode on someone.

The King James translates this fruit as gentleness and other translations translate it as kindness. Have you ever met someone who was gently hateful? Of course not. A person who is gentle is kind. They have a demeanor that does not want to cause harm or conflict. They are the opposite of a bull in a china shop.

Living in a world that is broken, the last thing people need is us coming in and breaking even more stuff. We can speak truth, but we do not have to be crass. We can be firm in our resolve, without berating. Think about Jesus with the Samaritan woman. He was gentle and she was not. She attacked His race - He calmly caused her to question her beliefs. She attacked His character - He told her of the insufficiency of her water. She sarcastically asked for His water - He confronted her sin. She spoke hopelessly about religion - He told her God was not interested in religion. She longed for Messiah - He told her that He was the Messiah.

In all of this, Jesus dealt with her gently and kindly. This woman was broken, and did not need to be bruised even further. Her sharp tongue was a result of her being broken. Her cutting remarks were because her life had been shattered. All anyone else could do was break her even more. Jesus wanted to redeem and restore her. As Christians, we are to be the same way. We gently and kindly lead people to Jesus so that He can redeem and restore them like this woman.

We must recognize that we are going to get cut along the way. This does not give us a license to cut back. We must remain kind. It will be in this kindness that people will see Jesus and not us. Remember when the world was cutting Jesus with the whip and the crown? He did not say a word. He was gentle and kind to the end. As a matter of fact, the only times Jesus spoke harshly was to the religious hypocrites who "had a form of godliness but denied the power thereof" (II Timothy 3:5).

Father, it is so easy to treat people like they treat us. Sometimes we even anticipate how we think they will treat us, and beat them to the punch. You desire to produce kindness and gentleness in us. Help us to be fertile soil that allows this fruit to grow in us. Through the work of Your Spirit in our lives, may the world see Jesus in us.