Kindness Starts It All

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture focused on rejecting fear and embracing faith. Anxiety weighs us down and disconnects us from the world. God loves us regardless of our struggles. Our battle is to abide in Jesus and put Him first. Abundant life is not about material possessions but about finding joy and returning color to life. Anxiety and fear can weigh us down, but when we abide in Jesus and walk in the Spirit, we can experience victory and operate in love, joy, peace, and kindness. Kindness is a powerful tool that can change lives and build each other up. It is important to be sympathetic, compassionate, and humble, and to embody the kindness of God. Welcome to Fear No Fear. Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit embrace you today. This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear in any and all forms. Fear is a spiritual force, the currency of darkness and ignorance. It's what we inherited when Adam gave up his faith and Satan uses it to keep people down. His only weapon is words. If he can get you believing or looking at words of fear, he's got you. Instead, we champion faith as an allegiance to God, as a belief and trust and loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. We accept the evidence of his word as unvarnished truth, as is, just as it's written. We get close to his perfect love through the word, and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4.18 All scripture is taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Visit eBible.org Proverbs 12.25 Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down, but a kind word makes it glad. There is something about anxiety that changes the way we see the world. It's like a filter, a veil of sorts that drops between you and everything around you. It takes vibrant, colorful, and high-definition scenery and turns it into faded sepia tones. No longer the world of the future, but a faded and crinkly version from the distant past. The sounds are muted, the colors are washed out, and everything is distant. It isn't like fear is preventing you from interacting with anything. It's like you're severed from everything. There's a disconnect, and often there seems like there's nothing you can do. First off, the Lord loves you. If you can't do anything but put on your socks today, He loves that you got your socks on. If you can't do anything but roll over, He loves that you rolled over. He loves you. And every single day, whether you are victorious, thinking about being victorious, or a lump under the sheets, there is something that He loves about you. Never feel bad that you are not winning the battle. The battle you're fighting isn't the battle you're supposed to be fighting. So God isn't disappointed with you. He isn't mad at you. He's proud of everything that you managed to do. He is full of joy with you. But it isn't the end of things. Our battle is the choice to abide in Jesus or not. That is our battle. Not with depression, not with anxiety, not with fear, not with stress. With our own choices. We either abide in Jesus, or we don't abide in Jesus. That's the battle. If we abide in Jesus, we are abiding in the Overcomer. He can win the other battle. In fact, He wins all the battles. Our purpose is not to fight those battles. We're to fight our battle. Do we abide in Him, or not? Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can't bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. John 15, 4-5 In Him, we have the victory. In Him, we are changed. In Him, we have life. The Word unlocks it all once our decision is made. We decide to abide in Jesus. We don't worry about the socks, or the blankets, or the bills, or the workplace, or anything. We decide to put Jesus first. Now, how do we do that? How do we enact that decision? We get into the Word. Jesus is the Word, and the Word is Jesus. John 1, 14 The Word renews our minds. Romans 12, 2 The Word sanctifies us. John 17, 17 The Word transforms us into those who have abundant life. The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. John 10, 10 Anxiety steals from us. Why are we opening our doors to it? Why are we letting it in, making it tea, giving it a biscuit, and letting it have the run of the house? Jesus gives abundant life. That is life that is existing or occurring in large amounts, marked by a great plenty of resources, amply supplied, plentiful, copious, bountiful, comfortable, plenteous, cornucopian, liberal, and galore. These are all meanings of abundance. Jesus came so that we can have life like that. But don't fall into the trap of things. You ask and don't receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. James 4, 3 Grab hold of that abundant life promise of Jesus, but do not think it means stuff and things and stuff. That's just another form of bondage. Desperate for things, for money in the bank, for investments, for assets. All those things can be part of it. But if that is the point of what you do, then you have a problem. The problem is you're placing things above God. Oh, but I love God, you say. Well, that's great. Then you won't mind putting God first instead of things. The Father knows our needs. Matthew 6, 8 He'll meet your needs. If you want all the rest, don't want them. If you like them, realize that it would be nice to have them, but be okay with not having them. A good litmus test is this. If you can't give it away, it's taking up heart space. And if it's going to take up heart space, it's going to displace the Lord. If it is going to displace the Lord, then you aren't going to get it from the Lord because it isn't good. If you want it because of greed, it isn't good. If you want it because of jealousy or envy, you're not going to get it because it isn't good. You see, abundant life is not about things. It's about returning that color, returning that pleasure, returning that joy to life, that ability to get out of bed and put on socks and not have it be a monumental task. See, anxiety is bad. It's not good. That horrible weight on your chest is not good. That feeling that you can't do things is not good. Things that aren't good weigh us down. And weighing us down is a bad thing because when you're weighed down, you can't swim. Whoever receives one such little child in my name receives me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a huge millstone were hung around his neck and that he were sunk in the depths of the sea. Matthew 18, 5-6 Why did Jesus use the example of a millstone around the neck? Because the punishment of being forcibly drowned was considered a horrific death. To use it as an example is to show how terrible a thing it is to make a child, physically or spiritually, stumble. This weighing down onto drowning is a terrible, terrible thing. That's what anxiety does. That's what fear does. It weighs us down until we think we're drowning. Now take a moment and think about your life and everything you've said in it. Have you ever said anything to someone that caused them anxiety? Have you ever contributed to their problems, to their worries? Have you ever left them more upset than when you arrived? Did you make them stumble into anxiety? Death and life are in the power of our tongues. Proverbs 18, 21 But it isn't always our life and our death that's on the line. You see, it's two sides of one coin. Anxiety that's pressing on us and anxiety that we help press onto others, whether it's conscious or unconscious. When we abide in Jesus, we don't need to worry about our anxiety. If we abide in Jesus, we won't need to be concerned that we're contributing to anyone else's anxiety either. When we fight our fight and decide to put Jesus first, we will walk in the Spirit under the guidance of the Word. It lights our path. Psalm 119, 105 Victory becomes ours because victory is His. 1 Corinthians 15, 57 Do you know what else becomes ours? His Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Galatians 5, 22-23 We get to operate in all of those. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I can be confident in that because in the very next verse, 24, it says, Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. Want to know what that means? Keep going through verses 25 and 26. If we live by the Spirit, let's also walk by the Spirit. Let's not become conceited, provoking one another and envying one another. See, first, we conquer our flesh in Jesus, by Jesus, and through Jesus. Once we're devoted to letting Him do a work in us, we need to walk that way. We need to walk by the Spirit. Not conceited. Not provoking. Not envying. Building each other up. Using a simple tool. Kindness. Just kindness. Therefore, exhort one another and build each other up, even as you also do. 1 Thessalonians 5, 11 These aren't suggestions. They're extrapolations. Further explanations of Jesus' own words. A second, likewise, is this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22, 39 It was a command. The second great command. Love the Lord your God with all your mind and your heart and your soul and your resources. That's the first great commandment. And the second one, likewise, is love your neighbor as yourself. It's a command. Be good to each other. Build each other up. Love. Kindness is wrapped up in that. A kind word can change your day. It can change your life. I've seen dozens of videos showing ordinary people doing simple things. Leaving a note of kindness. Saying a simple thing. Buying their coffee. Simple things that changed everything about them. Their stance. Their face. Their day. Their outlook. Their heart. Kindness is so easy. Why don't we use it more often? Kindness can turn away wrath. Proverbs 15, 1 Kindness benefits everyone. Those who use it and those it is used on. Proverbs 11, 17 Kindness is one of the ingredients of real love. Romans 2, 4 It helps us be sympathetic, compassionate, and humble. 1 Peter 3, 8 It is woven through every real aspect of the kingdom. It is part of the personality of Yahweh God Almighty. We don't picture Him like that. We either picture a wrathful God or a gentle Jesus who wouldn't hurt a fly. Wrath isn't kind. It's judgment. Someone who wouldn't hurt a fly isn't kind. It's a weakness. When something is wrong, someone right can call it wrong. Deal with it knowing it's wrong and judge it for being so. Gentle people who refuse to be able to hurt anything aren't strong. They're weak. Strength is having the ability to do harm but choosing not to. Controlling that strength is kindness. Not wielding it when you can and only when it's right. That is strength. Jesus had strength. He could have wiped everyone out. He didn't. He could have called for angels to attack them. He didn't. He could have whipped everybody in the temple on a regular basis. He didn't. He did it twice and He only did it when the Father told Him to. One of the times He went into the temple, looked around at everything He saw, and then left and spent the night somewhere else. The next day He came back and sent them singing. So what sets God apart? Well, God is justified in doing anything He wants. It is His creation and He is perfectly righteous. But He didn't come to judge. He can and He will, but that's not why He came. He came to save. If He wasn't interested in saving, He'd have sent angels. They're black and white and only do what the Lord wants. They don't even have emotions. They would strike down all disobedience because obedience is what the Lord requires. None of us would survive. Jesus came instead. Jesus saves. And not only did Jesus come, but the Father Himself, also His kindness. Mercy. He is mercy. And thank Him that He is. Father, You were a good God. And You were a merciful God. And I thank You. Jesus modeled that. He also spoke about the mercy of His Father. Jesus knew times of judgment were coming. And the time approaches that the chances are up and the time will have arrived. You know what Jesus said about the coming time of upheaval? Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened. Matthew 24, 22 Out of kindness, the Father shortened the time. Otherwise we'd all perish. Kindness. Coming to save. Planning to save before we had the chance to disobey. Isaiah 48, 13 and Ephesians 1, 4. That is kindness. Jesus always showed us kindness. The Father always showed us kindness. The Spirit always showed us kindness. The same yesterday, today and forever. Hebrews 13, 8. The kindness doesn't change. Why do we? We can wipe anxiety away with kindness. We can change a person's whole day with kindness. We can change the world with kindness. Have we walked in kindness all the time? Everyone would want us around. If everyone wanted us around, we'd have opportunity upon opportunity to share why we are the way we are. Why we're able to be so kind. Why we're able to love the way we love. Why we are the way we are. Isn't that what salt does? You know when it's in food. You know when it's in drinks. You notice salt. You can't avoid knowing it's there. Love it, hate it, like it, avoid it. You know that it is there. We're supposed to be the salt of the earth. Matthew 5, 13. Full of flavor and never losing what it is that makes us noticeable. Kindness. Love. Mercy. Peace. Patience. This cools the heart of those around us. 2 Peter 1, 7. It deescalates situations. 2 Timothy 2, 24. It helps us to help the distressed and dispirited. Matthew 9, 36. It is rich stuff. Truly rich and enables us to not only keep our own hearts clear before the Lord, but help others to do the same. Romans 2, 4. Even if none of that was true, although it is, it would be worth it to cultivate kindness simply because the opposite of kindness is the enemy's agenda. Everything that is counter to the enemy is worth doing. But there is no power in it without Jesus. Anyone in the world can be kind, and that kindness is a positive. But if Jesus is in the kindness, it is a heart-healing, world-opening power that nothing can match. Fight anxiety with kindness. Remembering God's kindness to us so that we can every day lay ourselves down before Him in humble brokenness. Able to choose Jesus and put the Lord God Almighty in front of our lives when we wake up in the morning. To allow Him to deal with all the negatives by obeying what the Word says and what the Lord says because they will always line up perfectly. And walk in victory in the Lord. Fight anxiety with kindness. Being kind to everyone around us and everyone we come into contact with because God was kind to us first. Job 10, 12. Kind to everyone because that compassion of kindness can be a vehicle to bring miracles into their lives. Matthew 20, 34. It is so simple, but we struggle with it. We're so fast with a harsh word. But the Lord will let us walk in the goodness of His Spirit, the kindness of His love, and the graciousness of the Kingdom. Not only us, but those who desperately want to know what makes us so loving, so kind, and so different. Those who start to see Jesus in you and Jesus in me. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Ephesians 4, 32. We're made in His image and in His image we are called to walk. Genesis 1, 27. We're all drawn to the biggies. Healing, deliverance. Who doesn't want to witness or be part of a healing of a major ill? Who doesn't want to see evil spirits cast out? Who doesn't want to see chains broken? What about spiritual experiences? Who doesn't want to see angels, visit heaven, feel the wind of the Spirit, see the Shekinah glory? All that is fun and great and needed. But if we are images of the Lord God, then we should be like the Lord God. Remember that the next time someone cuts you off. When someone is taking too much time and lying in front of you. When they mess up your order. When they aren't listening to what you say. When they show up late. When they don't say, thank you. When they take too long to do the simple thing you asked them to do or never seem to get to it in the first place. Kindness. God is a God of kindness. We are called to treat each other a lot differently than we default to. But kindness is part of the makeup of God. And that means it is part of our makeup. If we aren't using it, we aren't modeling Jesus to the world. Remember, God loved you so much that he made you like him. Show it with eagerness to model kindness to the world. You can always use more of it. And you'll shine like a beacon in the dark. Matthew 5, 14-16 As we close, remember that you have worth. You are precious and valuable. Declare this. Today, God loves that I, now you, fill in the blank. Was it a meal you made? A smile you gave? Did you get out of bed? Read? Put on socks? There's no wrong answers here. There is no end to God's love. And no end to the things about you that he loves each and every day. Pick one. And remember, the Lord loves you just because you're you. 1 John 4, 9-10 tells us, By this, God's love was revealed in us that God has sent his only-born Son into the world that we might live through him. And this is love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His perfect love turned away God's wrath because of sin. And it casts out our fear too. See verses 18 and 19. We love because he first loved us. He just loves us. He can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.