BE KIND
Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
1 Corinthians 13:4
This week is Valentine’s Day, which means we are bombarded on every platform – from television commercials, to radio ads, to social media posts – with the modern day notion of love, and what love means, and how we should show our love. As you think about your relationships, take a moment to also think about your relationship with God and all the ways God shows His love.
1 Corinthians 13:4 tells us exactly what love is. Today, let’s focus one just one of the things listed in this verse – love is kind.
God shows us His love through the kindness of others.
Think about that.
You’re having a bad day, nothing is going right. The dishwasher is broken. You forgot to buy milk. The dog knocked over the plant, so now there’s dirt everywhere, and you’ve got to run out the door to pick up your kids from soccer practice. Just one thing after another. When you get to soccer practice, your best friend is already there, waiting for you, with Starbucks. It doesn’t seem like much, but on that day, in that moment, it is exactly what you needed.
Maybe everything about your day is fantastic. All the lights were green on your way to work. Your supervisor loved your ideas for the new project. Your daughter texted you to tell you she aced her chemistry exam. You decide to pick up some carry out for dinner, and inside the restaurant, the manager tells you your dinner is on the house because you’re the 1,000th customer that day. Could this day get any better?!
We tend to look for God in the big stuff, but sometimes we forget He’s right beside us, in a lot of small ways. Sometimes it’s those little things that come from other people – the nice gestures, the pick-me-ups, the random message from an old friend, the funny joke when we really need a laugh, the examples are endless – these are all just small things from God, reminding us He loves us, He sees us, He hears us. Sometimes He sends someone to us with an act of kindness because He knows what we need.
Now think about the flip side of that. Think about all the ways God shows His love to others through you.
That bad day I mentioned earlier? What if, on the way to soccer practice, you stopped at Starbucks and you bought one for your best friend. No reason. You don’t even think about it, really. You just do it. You haven’t talked to her all day, so you don’t know that her tire blew out just as she pulled into the parking lot at work, and she had spent hours on the phone trying to find someone to fix it, worrying about how she’s going to pay for it, and she could really use that Starbucks right about now.
That fantastic day I mentioned earlier? What if you get to the restaurant to pick up your take out order, and the customer in front of you is $3.00 short, and so you just smile and pay it, maybe even say, “no worries, God’s got this.” What if, on that day, in that moment, that is exactly what that person needed to hear?
Sometimes we are so focused on witnessing and sharing God’s message that we forget to act like Christ. Sometimes it’s the small gestures we do, the warm smile we give to a stranger, the random message we send to an old friend – again, the possibilities are endless – these little things that we do, for no apparent reason, are actually God working through us to show others His love for them.
Read 1 Corinthians 13 and thank God for continually showing you His love; then pray and ask Him to express His love to others through you.
It’s Valentine’s Day this week. Buy the flowers. Make the chocolate covered strawberries. And when the flowers wither away, and the strawberries have all been eaten, remember, in all things, Be Kind.
Partially adapted from “Experiencing God Day-By-Day; The Devotional and Journal”, by Henry T. Blackaby and Richard Blackaby ©1997. Entry February 13.