Fruit of Kindness
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November 22, 2015 |
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 Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23).
If we bear the fruit of kindness, we will be able to understand any kind of person with goodness and accept any kind of person with love. Even when they have some great faults or they have committed grave sins, we will first have mercy rather than passing judgment and condemnation on them. We would hate the sins, but not the sinner; we will understand the person and try to help them to live. Let's look into this fruit of kindness.
1. What is the fruit of kindness?
Kindness is the quality or state of being kind. However, the spiritual meaning of 'kindness' is closer to that of 'mercy'. The spiritual meaning of kindness is "to understand in the truth even those who cannot be understood at all by men". It is also the heart of mercy that is able to forgive in the truth even those who cannot be forgiven by men.
God has this heart of compassion that is the heart of mercy towards mankind. Psalm 130:3 says, "If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O LORD, who could stand?" As written, if God had no mercy and judged us according to justice, nobody would be able to stand before God.
But, according to justice, God forgave and accepted even those who can be neither forgiven nor accepted. In order to do that, God gave the life of His only begotten Son. God wants those children who believe in the Lord and cultivate this heart of mercy.
2. The characteristics of those who have borne the fruit of spiritual kindness
First, they have no prejudice.
Worldly people so often judge others by appearances. Their attitudes toward people change depending on the judgment of circumstances. God's children must not have bias. We have to consider others better than ourselves and serve them with the heart of the Lord (James 2:1-4).
Even if you think that you do not judge others according to their wealth, fame, or appearance, please check if you have any favoritism or prejudice even spiritually. For example, what if you feel that you cannot really have a meaningful conversation with certain people even though they have been Christians for a long time because they don't have enough spiritual understanding?
Also, when a person is going through some trials of faith there are some people who talk about and condemn the person as if they were in the seat of the judge. When people brought a woman who had committed adultery before Jesus, He showed great mercy saying, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her" (John 8:3-11).
When you see a person who is receiving punishment before God, if you have the heart of mercy then you should have compassion for him and hope that he will overcome it well.
Second, they have compassion on those who are in difficulties and enjoy helping them.
We should not just feel pity in our heart for others and say, "Take heart and be strong!" If our heart is true, we will do something to give our brothers and sisters substantial help (James 2:15-17).
When another person is starving if you just think 'it's a pity' and do nothing because you don't have enough for yourself, it's not mercy. If you really feel pity with a true heart, you can give or share your portion. When you see somebody who is suffering from any kind of problem, you should desire to be of some help and relieve them of the pain. This is mercy.
Proverbs 19:17 says, "One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, and He will repay him for his good deed." If you take care of the souls with the heart of the Lord, God will certainly pay you back with His blessings.
Third, they will not easily point out others' faults.
If we have mercy, we cannot easily punish, rebuke, or point out shortcomings. When we just give a word of advice, we will do it with prayerful mind caring for that person's heart (Proverbs 12:18).
Out of their own self-righteousness and self-frameworks some people frequently point out the shortcomings of others. Even if what you say is true, if you point out shortcomings within your self-righteousness or frameworks without love, it doesn't give life. The others will not change as a result of the advice, but instead their feelings will be hurt and they will become discouraged and lose strength.
In dealing with a young child you should not reveal faults in a manner that offends him or causes him to stumble. When you have to give advice because it is absolutely necessary, you have to do it with love while thinking from the other's viewpoint and with care for that soul. Only then can the person change.
Fourth, such people are generous to everybody.
In Luke 6:32 it says, "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them." Most people can generously give what they have to some extent to those whom they love. We can bear the fruit of mercy when we can give of ourselves without wanting anything in return.
Jesus gave unlimited love even to a person like Judas Iscariot and He repeatedly gave him many chances again and again so he could come to repentance. Even when Jesus was being crucified, He prayed for those who were crucifying Him. This is the mercy with which we can be forgiven and we can forgive those who cannot be forgiven at all.
You should be able to accept and embrace others even though their characters and opinions are not in agreement. You should first think from the other person's viewpoint. Then, you can change the feelings. If you just think, 'why on earth does he do that? I just can't understand him,' then, you will only have hard feelings and you will have uncomfortable feelings when you see him.
But you can think, 'Ah, it is the situation that he is in that causes him to act this way.' Then you can change the feelings of dislike. To change your thoughts and feelings into goodness, you have to pull out the hatred and other evil feelings one by one. Then you can accept and serve any kind of person.
Fifth, people who have borne the fruit of spiritual kindness can attribute honor to others.
When something is done well, people with spiritual kindness can give the honors to others, yet when something goes wrong, they can accept the blame. When you work together and though you did the work and did it better and the other person receives all the recognition and the other person is praised more than you, you still can rejoice with them like it was your own happiness. You will not have any discomfort thinking that you did more work and someone else is praised even though he has many shortcomings.
You will only be thankful thinking that he can gain more confidence and work harder after being praised by others. You can understand this heart more easily if you think about a mother who sacrifices herself for her children.
If a child's mother does something with her child and only the child receives the reward, there shouldn't be any mother who would complain saying that she didn't get any reward. If we have the fruit of spiritual kindness, we can put anybody ahead of us and attribute the merit to him.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, spiritual kindness is a characteristic of God the Father who is full of compassion and love. Not only kindness, but each of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is also the perfect heart of God.
I hope all of you will bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit completely. In doing so, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will be overflowing with blessings and enjoy glory shining like the sun in Heaven.
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