Text: Kind — Ephesians 4:32

Read:

Ephesians 4:32 (NKJV) And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

What it is speaking to me

"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted." I've read that verse many times and usually feel like "check, got that one." I file it under things I basically already do. I'm not generally rude to people. I hold doors open. I say please and thank you, I tip well, are friendly with waiters and grocery clerks. Kindness felt like a box already checked.

The language Paul is using is more like the giving of a command, which means kindness is something you intentionally practice, not just something you happen to have passively.

I don't know much about gardening but this I do know. Fruit doesn't just appear. It take time. It takes cultivation. Kindness is one of the fruit of the Spirit. So we aren't solely responsible for its creation, He is forming and cultivating it in us. But we should water it, and pull it out into the sun (use it!).

So when Paul tells the Ephesians to be kind, he's not asking them to wait around for a warm feeling in the checkout line. He's asking them to do something, deliberately, toward specific people, on purpose. That's a very different posture than "I'll be nice if the moment calls for it."

To belabor you with one more analogy, kindness is not like the weather, something that shows up or doesn't, depending on my mood or how my day is going. Kindness is not based on whether I feel like it or not, but it is born of the Spirit and practiced in my actions and speech.

What is it saying to you?

• Where in your life has kindness become passive, something you'd offer if it came up, rather than something you go looking for opportunities to do?

• Who is someone you interact with regularly out of habit or duty, where a little deliberate kindness could change the whole tone of that relationship?

What are we going to do about it?

Let's do a very simple kindness exercise. Send three genuinely kind, specific, and unhurried messages today to people you care about. No tasks or logistics tacked into it at the end. Just tenderhearted encouragement.