Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 3:3.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
To live a sanctified life you must be kind. A sanctified life is not harsh or judgmental, it does not shame or embarrass others. Jesus lived the most sanctified life anyone ever has in the flesh and He was kind. He was gentle and humble of heart. A bruised reed, he did not crush and a smoldering wick He did not extinguish. He came to save you, not to judge you.
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Hosea 6:8.
The sanctified life is a fruitful life. And the fruit you bear is that of the vine to which you are attached. A sanctified life is a life abiding in Jesus as a branch in the vine producing the fruit of the Spirit. And in that fruit is kindness. Everyone should see how kind you are.
Imitate Me as My dear children and walk in love. Love is kind.
When people see you they should see Me. Just like Jesus—in seeing Him, you see Me. Why? He walked in love and did nothing I did not show and/or tell Him by My Word.
I am love. And the one who believes in Me must also necessarily walk in love. If you do not, you are not of Me.
Kindness is a fruit of the spirit and love is also. Love is patient and love is kind.
What does it mean to be kind? It means to be gentle and humble of heart—not harsh, hard, rude, and abusive. It means to consider others as worthy of respect and honor. It means to treat others as you would have them treat you. It means to love your neighbor as you love yourself.
Being kind does not mean giving in to other people’s selfishness or compromising the truth to cater to their sins so that they are not offended. It means speaking the truth in love.
Yes, kindness means speaking the truth in love. That is one of the best definitions of kindness for you to follow. Being kind does not mean you compromise the truth, in fact, it means you refuse to compromise the truth.
My Son was kind but He never compromised the truth. He told the woman caught in adultery that He did not condemn her but He did not condone what she did. He told her to go and sin no more. John 8:11. And His gift to her of no condemnation enabled her to avoid any further sin in that area. It is My goodness that leads sinners to repentance, not to stay as they are.
And remember how My Son spoke with the Samaritan woman by Jacob’s well? He knew her sinful life style and her lack of self esteem. He knew she felt unloved and was searching for love in the wrong ways. But He did not come out and accuse her of sin. He asked her to call her husband, giving her the chance to confess her lifestyle. But she replied she did not have one. She actually had had five husbands and was currently living with a man she was not married to. My Son pointed out her omission in a kind way that made her want to know more about what He had to say to her. He first actually complemented her, telling her that she had answered correctly by saying she had no husband. But then he reprimanded her omission in an honest but nonthreatening manner. And then He finished the reprimand by again telling her that in saying she had no husband she had spoken the truth. And once she saw that He knew what she was doing and yet continued discussing spiritual things with her she changed from sinner to believer and evangelist—running back to her town to announce the good news of Jesus. And they returned with her to Jesus at the well. And many of the Samaritans believed in My Son as the Messiah because of the testimony of the Samaritan woman. John 4:39.
And Paul wrote to Timothy under the inspiration of the Spirit that the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, correcting those who were in opposition with gentleness so that I could grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. 2 Timothy 2:24-26
Yes, kindness is not weak but firm in doing the right thing. Which is always to build the other person up in love. Kindness exhorts, encourages and edifies. It is prophecy. It never tears down but upbuilds in truth.
Kindness considers others interests as more important than its own. Kindness is slow to anger. Kindness is sweet.
I am kind. Consider how I spoke to Adam after he had sinned. I asked him where he was and why he was hiding from Me. I gave him an opportunity to take responsibility in a dignified manner but he did not. So I did tell him what he had done wrong and the consequences but I gave him hope with a promise of redemption in the seed of the woman. And with Cain I did the same. I offered him the opportunity to tell me what he had done and why but he also refused to be open with Me. I pointed out what he had done but I still gave him hope and an offer of My protection. And think of Paul. My Son appeared to him and let him know that he was doing wrong but then offered him a brilliant and amazing future in a life of amazing fruitfulness.
The Pharisees called My Son one who received sinners and ate with them. But My Son never sinned, and sinners did not stay sinners long when they received Him.
And even though all mankind sinned, I did not condemn you but condemned your sins in the body of My Son. My kindness and My love for you appeared in My Son. As Paul wrote to Timothy under the inspiration of My Spirit: “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:3-7.
Moses described Me as being filled with lovingkindness. Hesed. He knew Me that way. And so should you. Kindness is all about mercy.
The fruit of the Spirit is all one bundle that works together. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23. You cannot have one without the other, and love encompasses them all. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. That is why they are collectively called “fruit” in the singular rather than in the plural. It is because they come as a package. It is one delicious fruit.
All the fruit is the offspring of love. They are the characteristics of love and define love. They define Me for I am love.
One fruit of the Spirit with many characteristics–but all hang on love and work by love, all come under the banner of love. And My banner over you is love.
It is easy to tell one who has chosen Me and one who has not. It is by the fruit that they bear. Everyone who is born of Me bears the fruit of the Spirit. If you are attached to the vine you bear fruit. And you bear the kind of fruit peculiar to that vine. Jesus is the vine and His Spirit flows into you and produces the fruit of the Spirit.
So the fruit of the Spirit is evident in the lives of those who are truly My disciples, true believers. You will know them by their fruit and their fruit will remain.
“Be fruitful” were My first Words to mankind. I blessed them saying, “Be fruitful,” as the first empowerment for mankind. The Blessing.
You are made to be fruitful. And being fruitful means to operate in love. It means to choose to operate in the good. This will produce the Blessing and not the curse.
And to be attached to the vine means to receive grace. Then you are fruitful.
So how do you bear fruit? Especially kindness? The way it is done in the physical world is the same in the spiritual. A branch attached to the vine produces grapes if nothing is hindering the sap from coursing into the branch. The fruit happens. It is not work for the branch to produce the fruit, all it has to do is stay on the vine and have nothing that blocks the flow into it from the source.
My Son explained how to do this to you at the Last Supper. He told you that just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in Him. If you remain in Him and He in you then you will bear much fruit. And He tells you how to remain in Him and He in you—you remain in His love by keeping His commandments and keeping His Words in your heart. John 15:7-10.
If you make My Words the ultimate authority in your life and form the way you view the world according to My Word (that is walk by faith and not by sight), you will remain on the vine and you will bear fruit. The fruit of the Spirit. And you will be kind. And it will shine on others. Just the way no one can miss seeing the big juicy ripe fruit hanging on the branch. And just as a fruit tree is identified by the fruit on its branches, so you too will be identified by the fruit you bear. And they will know you are My disciples by the fruit of the Spirit. By your love for one another all will know you as Mine.
What vine would people say you belong to from the fruit you bear? Does everyone see how kind you are?
I love you. I have prepared a life of good deeds for each of you in advance—to bear fruit that will last– that you should enjoy walking in it. And the fruit of your life should be the fruit of the Spirit. And you will find it most wonderful. Yes, the sanctified life is a wonderful life filled with the fruit of the Spirit. You eat the fruit of your lips or so do those you speak with.
With the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach will be satisfied; he will be satisfied with the product of his lips. Death and life are in the power [hand] of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:20-21.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23.
For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:3-7.