“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness…”
The second triad of the fruit of the Spirit is directed toward others. We now come to the second fruit in the second triad.
kindness,
“Kindness” carries the idea of goodness, generosity. A good person is upright toward others; thus, he has a sense of kindness toward them. This quality is both an attitude and an action. It expresses itself in implementing kindness in concrete compassion toward others.
Kindness is benevolence in action. This is a person who says the right thing at the right time. Sometimes a kind person is someone who keeps his mouth shut at the right time.
Kindness is compassion in action, a category of love. It is someone who acknowledges his grace from God and so acts upon that grace toward others.
Principle:
A kind person cares about others more than themselves.
Application:
Kindness is active benevolence toward others that mimics God’s kindness toward us (Romans 2:4; Ephesians 2:7). If God is kind toward us, we should be kind toward others (2 Corinthians 6:6; Colossians 3:12).
A kind person is not occupied with himself. If what we say injures or slanders another person, this is the opposite of kindness.
“Love suffers long and is kind…” (1 Corinthians 13:4).
“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering…” (Colossians 3:12).
Sometimes it is better to keep our mouth shut if what we say hurts others. We are very adept at injuring and slandering others. If there is anyone on the face of the earth that ought to be kind to others, it is the child of God.
“Kindness” is the opposite of self-assertiveness and self-interest. A kind person carries a spirit of equability, for he is not cast down by defeat nor overly elated at some victory. He does not react to every adversity that comes his way. On the other hand, he completely depends on God and commits his cause to Him. He leaves vengeance with God’s sense of justice.
