Kindness

For the next several days, I’m looking at the word “kindness” in the bible.  After all, Jesus said kindness is what leads us to repentance.  And yet, we try to get people to come to Jesus so often with judgment .

One of the first mentions of an act of kindness is when Joseph was put in jail.  It says in Genesis 39: But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer.

Here Joseph finds himself in a place where most of us today would be devastated to find ourselves in – in jail!  So in one of the worst circumstances, God extends kindness to Joseph by causing the one who ran the jail to extend favor to Joseph.  In other words, God took what was meant for evil to crush Joseph, and instead turned it into something that blessed him.

That’s the kindness of God.  That’s the kind of God we serve.  That’s the kind God we love.

Maybe today, we can look around and see friends or neighbors who are in bad circumstances and we can go out of our way to show them favor by bringing them a meal, praying for them, or just sending a text or email their way – one of encouragement.

After all, if God did it for Joseph, he will do it for us.  And if he does it for us, we should do it for others. 

Do what?

Be kindhearted to one another.