There is a yard sign in front of a house nearby which says “I Choose Kindness.”  That’s an admirable statement, isn’t it?  But there is a subtle difference between choosing kindness and truly being kind.  The Bible says, in Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as God in Christ forgave you.”  That is true kindness, and goes a long way beyond just saying something nice to someone.

Being truly kind and encouraging in what we say to a person we love, is a demonstration of how much we care about them.  We have a friend who has been married for 50 years, and she told me that her husband has never, in all those years, said anything unkind to her or hurt her feelings.  That must be some kind of record!  She knows that she is loved just by the way her husband speaks to her.

It is of vital importance in a marriage to affirm and be kind to one another.  Kindness also goes a long way in strengthening friendships and other relationships.  As we are gentle and caring with others, we can show them the love of God.  Jesus once told people that “God is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.” Let’s reach our world by letting people know of the lovingkindness of our wonderful God. As Romans 5:8 puts it: “While we were still sinners Christ died for us.”   

This is Luis Palau.