When our daughters were little girls they went to a craft class. One of them painted three words on a piece of cloth with fabric paint. It said, “Love is kind.” She brought it home for me, and I hung it up where I could see it often. I wanted to think about those three words, “Love is kind.” They were taken from 1 Corinthians 13:44Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, (1 Corinthians 13:4), “Charity [love] suffereth long, and is kind.”
The Lord Jesus was kind. One day He saw a man who had been born blind. But the man couldn’t see Jesus; he had never seen anything. Jesus healed his eyes so he was able to see, and that man was so thankful that he worshipped the Lord Jesus.
We can’t heal blind eyes, but if we’re very kind we might help people to see how special Jesus is, and they will worship Him too.
Another day a father brought his son to Jesus because his boy had an evil spirit. Because of the evil spirit the boy could not talk or hear, and it often threw him into the fire and into the waters to try to destroy him. The boy’s father cried out in tears, asking the Lord Jesus to help them. Jesus rebuked the evil spirit and commanded it to come out of the boy and stay out. Then the boy was just like other people and could hear and speak.
We can’t make deaf people hear, but if we’re very kind to others we might help them open their ears to listen to God’s good news, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
There was another time when Jesus saw a widow crying because her only son had died. People were carrying him out of the city to bury him. Jesus touched the coffin and said, “Young man . . . arise.” The dead man sat right up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother alive.
We can’t make dead men come back to life. But God’s Word tells us that everyone who is living in this world without Christ is really “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:11And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; (Ephesians 2:1)). If we are very kind to those people, we might be able to help them understand and believe what Jesus said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:2525Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: (John 11:25)).
The Lord Jesus was very kind in the way He treated His disciples too. He had chosen these 12 men to be His special friends and helpers. One of them turned out to be a thief, but Jesus never even hinted to the others that Judas was stealing, even though Jesus knew it all along. Judas not only stole some of the money he was supposed to be taking care of for all the disciples, he wanted more money. He told the chief priests that he would betray Jesus if they would pay him 30 pieces of silver. So the chief priests and a great crowd carrying swords and strong sticks followed Judas out to the garden where he knew Jesus would be. Then Judas walked right up to Jesus and said, “Hail, Master,” and kissed Him. That kiss was a sign so the soldiers would know which man they were to take prisoner. Jesus said to Judas, “Friend, wherefore art thou come?”
Would you call Judas your friend if he had just sold you to your enemies? It was very kind of the Lord Jesus to treat Judas that way. Can we be that kind? We can if we have the Lord Jesus living in our hearts. If we are His children and He is living in our hearts by grace, He tells us, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor [noisy commotion], and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice [hatefulness]: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:31-3231Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:31‑32)).
ML-04/28/1996