Thought for the Day - Being kind is more than just a random act, it's a way of life
Random acts of kindness was an idea put out a few years back. Lovely idea and worthy of consideration. My hope is that many of us actually put it into practice.
We’ve all tried our hand at spontaneous gestures: buying the next person’s cuppa, scribbling a note of encouragement, maybe even returning something we borrowed. But we mustn’t confuse the momentary act with actual kindness.
Ephesians 4:32 reminds us to “be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” This is not a merely occasional niceness, but rather a way of living.
Jesus illustrated this when asked, "who our neighbour is.” He answered with the familiar parable of the Good Samaritan. (Luke 10:25-37). The man is beaten, robbed and left for dead - not unlike acts of violence we witness in our world today.
Sadly, it wasn’t the religious leaders who reached out to help. Rather it turned out to be a Samaritan, an outsider to the Jews, who stopped in kindness to help. Reaching out to the wounded man and binding his wounds. That was the random act of kindness. But real kindness moved beyond the initial act to show true compassion.
The Samaritan didn’t do just the obvious, he then picked him up, carried him to safety, paid the robbed man’s hotel bill, and future care with a promise to return and pay whatever the rest of the need was. Jesus said effectively that our neighbour is the one who actually cares and acts on it.
Our challenge is that we need to learn to live beyond fleeting gestures to embrace kindness as a life pattern. It should become second nature. True kindness is coming alongside the ‘others’ in our encounters and making a life difference.
We Scottish at heart are very generous when a need is presented. I love that about our Angus communities; when world disasters happen, we dig deep and give generously. That is just one way kindness shows.
But true kindness goes beyond that, to even reaching out to the neighbour next door that frustrates us, that might even anger us at times. Some of our neighbours don’t deserve it, but Biblical kindness demands more than mere existence. Let’s learn to be kind, not just in passing but influencing the hearts of the world around us.