Are You in the Way of Your Own Kindness?

Last night, I fellowshipped around Titus 2:5 with the Women's Minisry leaders at my church. Their study tonight with the ladies at large will be on the Christian virtue of "kindness." The working definition we used was "a sincere desire for the happiness of others."

In doing a little studying on kindness, a couple of things became quickly apparent. Most commentators say almost nothing about kindness. It must not be sexy enough of a concept to spend much time describing, illustrating, etc. The conclusion that I reached is that kindness is so integral to what it means to be a Christian, that it is simply assumed to be common knowledge; in other words, "Christians are kind" is a truism. After all, isn't desiring someone else's happiness perfectly exemplified in Christ sacrificing Himself for the salvation (i.e., ultimate happiness) of sinners.

One commentator, however, noted that with the laundry list of virtues that women are supposed to inculcate (often with little to no earthly rewards), there is quite a temptation for wives and mothers to succomb to the temptation of holding a negative attitude towards those she serves.
It is no doubt why Paul instructs the Galatian believers that kindness is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22...which is why this isn't just a quality for women!). In other words, sinners have to admit they cannot muster up kindness and look to the Lord for Spirit-empowered kindness. Certainly there are things we can do to cultivate kindness, but we need God's power to bring it about.

Paul goes even further in the Galatian text warning those believers that when they gratify the desires of the flesh (which includes "strife, jealousy, fits of anger" v.20), they actually stand opposed to the Holy Spirit. When we wallow in our selfishness, we do more than act selfishly at that moment, we actually get in the way of God blessing us with an attitude of kindness going forward.

What fruitful time: to meditate on the attitude of kindness (what it looks like, how we can hinder it, and how God empowers us to have it)...an attitude that prevents the gospel from being maligned by those who watch.