A few days ago, at a warehouse shopping center, as I was approaching rows of shopping carts to pull one loose for my wife and myself to use as we made our way from aisle to aisle inside the huge store, a lady who was approaching the same rows of carts reached her cart first. In a total surprise to me, she said as she pushed her cart toward my still empty hands, “Here, take this one.”
This kind lady was maybe twenty or thirty years younger than me, and she no doubt noticed that I was pretty old and somewhat unbalanced in my stride (due to cancer chemo, neuropathy, and/or side effects from meds), so she thoughtfully wanted to spare this old man the sometimes bothersome task of pulling a cart loose. I must admit, my first thought was to thank the lady and say something like, “Oh, that’s very nice of you, but I have always believed that a gentleman should first help a lady, and not vice-versa.” But, lo, I somehow got the “grace” to smile, thank her, and take the cart she pushed my way. I don’t know if I would react the same way tomorrow; it cuts against the grain of every ounce of manhood and dignity in me—to let a woman help me with a simple task. But I did this time, and I am surely grateful for a nice lady who could see that someone might need a helping hand.
That incident happened about the time that I had been studying for a lesson on Romans 12:10a: “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love.”
There are a good many biblical exhortations in the New Testament that mandate believers to act kindly, including Col. 3:12: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind”; and II Pet. 1:7: “And to godliness (add) brotherly kindness”; and the classic admonition in Eph. 4:32: “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
In the Old Testament, there is the covenant between Saul’s son, Jonathan, and the anointed but not yet crowned king, David. Jonathan asks his soul-mate, David, that he would “while yet I live shew me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not.” (I Sam. 20:14) Further, he adds: “But also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house forever.” (v.15) Twenty-some years later, after David had escaped the sword of Saul—having been driven to the caves and forests for safety—and was finally sitting on the throne as king in Jerusalem, he said, “Is there yet any that is left in the house of Saul that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” (II Sam. 9:3) The king was told that Jonathan did in fact have a living son, lame in the feet—Mephibosheth of Lodebar—and David instructed that Mephibosheth be brought at once to the palace. When the grandson of Saul was ushered into the king’s presence, he fell on his face; whereupon David said, “Fear not; for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.” Mephibosheth, no doubt overcome with wonder, could only say, bowing, “What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?” (II Sam. 9:8)
In Isaiah 54:8, God tells his estranged, rebellious people that though He had hid His face from them for a moment, “with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee” and “my kindness shall not depart from thee.” (Isa. 54:8,10) Nehemiah 9:17 says that God is of great kindness; Ps. 117:2 speaks of His kindness being merciful; and Titus 3:4 declares that “the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared.”
Two days after I was humbled by the incident with the shopping cart, Ellen and I were eating in a restaurant with some pastors and their wives. Ellen said that one of the wives suddenly excused herself from the table and went toward the restrooms. Sharing the story later, she said that she had noticed an older woman sitting in a booth eating by herself. At the end of her meal, the server brought the woman a piece of birthday cake, as is the custom with some restaurants when a customer is celebrating a birthday. The lonely lady had made her way to the restroom, followed by the pastor’s wife, who—when entering the restroom—introduced herself and explained she could not help noticing that she was eating by herself. She then asked, “Are you OK? Is there anything I can do to help?” The surprised lady replied, “Oh, no, I am fine. It is my birthday, and I have six children, but they are all hither and yon, so I am celebrating by myself today.” Then, the lady added, “But I am not alone; the Lord always sends someone my way that shows kindness to me, so everything is all right.” Kindness was shown that dinner hour; and kindness was received. Such mundane meetings—two ladies in a restroom at the same moment; one desiring to show some kindness, and one in need of some kindness. God is so very good—all the time!
There is a striking statement in Proverbs 19:22, where Solomon says that “The desire of a man is his kindness.” That obviously doesn’t mean that a man desires kindness, but that what makes other men desire to be in the company of certain men is the kindness that they demonstrate. Kindness to his wife, his children, his associates at work, his neighbors. So many people today react angrily at the drop of a hat, so to speak. We hear about road rage and mass shootings over seeming trivialities on every evening news broadcast. Where is the man whose first and unfailing response—even to stressful situations—is kindness? It costs nothing, but surely reflects the attitude of our Savior who, when a woman taken in adultery was brought to her by wicked men expecting that Jesus would have her stoned, was told by the Lord—after all her would-be accusers left the scene, when Jesus said that the one without sin should cast the first stone—“Neither do I accuse thee; go and sin no more.”
No lecture; no Old Testament verses of the Law recited; just a kind word to the broken, believing woman: Go, sin no more. Kindness emulated from the kindest of the kind! Selah.
“That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 2:7)
YOU and GOD 