KINDNESS is one thing that becomes us and we have a nice illustration of it before us in the dear children giving an apple to the horse. We can see that the horses and dog and kitty all are accustomed to the kindness of the children.
I once heard a converted Indian tell of the happiness which was brought into their family through their finding the Lord Jesus. His father, before he was saved, used to be very cruel to the animals around him, and I expect it was so with the rest of the family, but they heard of God’s great love in giving His Son to die for sinners, and they believed the good news, and they were turned to God, and their hearts were filled with happiness, and he said even the cat knew the difference in the home, for before they knew the Lord Jesus as their Saviour it used to be afraid, come near them, but after they knew their sins forgiven through believing in the Lord Jesus the cat soon learned their kindness and gentleness with it, and would come to them.
If we know what God’s love and grace is to us, we will delight in showing that to others, and this is what the Lord asks us to do.
In Luke 10 we get the beautiful illustration of our blessed Lord in the case of the certain Samaritan who did everything for the poor man that had fallen among thieves, and after the Lord got through telling him, He asked him the question, which one of the three—the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan — found his neighbor. The lawyer answered, “He that showed mercy on him.” Then the Lord answered “Go and do thou likewise.” So if we know what the Lord Jesus has done for us in taking our place on Calvary’s cross, we must seek to show that same grace to others and as we become more like Him in our ways, even the animals around us will be treated kindly.
ML 05/19/1918