Kill them with Kindness

No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear. 30 And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. 32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), Eph 4:29–32.

I am not sure if you have noticed but the world has changed. It has changed so much just from the time that I was a child. Some of you may be to young to remember this but I can remember a time when we would leave the house, doors unlocked, windows open, and never worried about coming home to find things missing. There is now so much hatred or as my granny would call it, meanness, in the world today. It is like we have forgotten our manners and/or were never taught how to respect others. Please and Thank You are phrases of the past. Yes Sir and Yes Ma’am are also out the window of time. Could just plain and simple kindness help cure the darkness in the world? Kindness would be a wonderful start in changing the world. Compassion and love for our fellow man would be a great start. We will look at these in this blog.

I have chosen this passage for probably obvious reasons. It gives us directions on building people up. Notice the first words “No Foul Language should come from your mouth.” You may ask why? Just think in a Biblical sense. foul is not good in the Eyes of God. We have all been cussed at and I am sure that no one enjoys it or wants to hear it. As Christians we try to live for God and be Christ like at every opportunity. But please hear this, as Christians we are not perfect. OK, back on point. How much farther could a person get if they build up people? Maybe that person would build up the next person that they encounter and so on and so on. You get the point. Be kind to one another and watch it spread.

Verse 31 tells us, “Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice.” This is instruction for the “new man”, new believer in Christ. Once again we are back to being kind. The number one reason is because God says so but secondly, it is the right thing to do. I have a long and sorted testimony that I will share one day.  I used to take it out on others and I also beat myself up almost daily over nothing at all , on most days. What I learned is this, it did not help anything; in fact things got much worse. Accepting Christ and doing daily Bible study and prayer has been most helpful, (having a wonderful and loving family at home) has been helpful also. Being kind and compassionate has helped me realize why building people up works so much better than tearing them down. After all, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels” (Hebrews 13:2 NKJV).

Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), Col 4:5–6.

Now to the main point, verse 32 tells us why, “And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.” With Christ’ death on the cross we were given a clean slate to work with. Notice the words of Jesus in the following verse:

When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. 34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.”

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), Lk 23:33–34.

“Father, Forgive them! WOW! If Jesus could forgive, why can’t we? Pride? I will end this blog with the fruits of the spirit or the way we should be living.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), Ga 5:22–24.

Try living like this this week. Come on, try it. Be a light in a darkened world and make someones day a little brighter; you may like the feeling you get.

God Bless,

Chaplain Howie

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