Galatians 5:22-23(NLT) tells us, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” It is very important that we understand that these are the Spirit’s fruit, and He, the Spirit, produces this fruit in us. You and I are unable to produce them ourselves. Of course, we could come up with all kinds of counterfeits, but we should all want the real deal, the authentic fruit that only comes from our Heavenly Father. Counterfeiting is the devil’s business, and he knows how to make counterfeits very well. The former occupation of satan in heaven was that of being an angel of light. This was a very important job, because light illuminates, and it allows love, liberty, and knowledge to shine forth. Light dispels darkness, but when the devil was kicked out of heaven for attempting to overthrow God’s throne, he became the father of lies, and now darkness is his middle name.
1Thessalonians 5:5(NLT) says, “For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don't belong to darkness and night.” We are children of God’s light, and this means that we are in the business of bearing the Spirit’s fruit. God gives us the light, water, and even produces the fruit; and all that you and I need to do is let our roots grow down into Christ and bear the fruit he produces. We must lean on the Lord for everything, because our light comes from Him. As followers of Christ, we don’t lean on our own understanding, because our own understanding will put us in the flesh every time; we’d be leaning on our feelings, rather than taking God’s Word by faith. God tells us in His Word not to walk according to the flesh, but to walk in the Spirit. 2Corinthians 3:17 says where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, and in this freedom, we are being transformed into the people God wants us to be.
Walk in the Spirit
Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit, and it is defined commonly as a quality of being friendly, thoughtful, and generous, but it goes much deeper than this. In Ephesians 4:32(NLT), God tells us through the Apostle Paul, “Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” Our Heavenly Father has told us that kindness is part of His spiritual nature; therefore, it is anchored deep inside us through the person of the Holy Spirit. This means we are able to lean on the Spirit within to teach us how to be kind in God’s way, according to God’s standard. Our personal demonstration of kindness is not always going to meet God’s standard, because our kindness is very often based on circumstances, and not on the mind and nature of Christ.
For many of us, being kind is simply a gesture that is based on how we’re feeling at any given moment. To get a visual, imagine a person waking up one morning, and everything goes wrong. They ran out of deodorant, burned a shirt with the iron, couldn’t find the car keys, forgot and left their thermos of coffee on the table, and had a heated discussion with the significant person in their lives on the way to work. All of this happened before the workday began. Most people will allow these types of events to dictate the whole day and walk around feeling grumpy because of these little challenges. They might miss several opportunities to be kind in ways that are very important to God. Because they’ve allowed their minds to be consumed with the discomforted events of the morning, they may not have taken time to pray and to be guided by the Spirit.
We all experience days where we don’t wake up feeling like we want to skip through fields of daisies, but we must remember who our Father is, and that we are indeed children of His light. We should desire the Spirit’s fruit, and his fruit should be the defining characteristic of every believer. We should not be defined by things that represent the kingdom of darkness, because God says we are children of light. There are people and deeds of goodness that are assigned to us and are specific to our individual journeys on earth. This requires us to be obedient to the move of the Spirit and show kindness according to God’s plan for us, as well as the other people involved. Heavenly Father sees their needs and knows them on levels we couldn’t possibly understand. So, we don’t get to dictate this. It’s the Spirit’s guidance and direction that is so necessary for our good works. Walking in the flesh causes us to be chiefly concerned with our feelings, walking in the Spirit means that we flip the ‘Off’ button on the flesh and lean on him.
The question and answer
Matthew 5:8(NLT) states, “God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.” How can we develop a heart that is pure when we constantly face adversity and turmoil in our external reality? The answer is that in and of ourselves, we cannot have a pure heart. Jesus Christ gave us a pure heart when we became born again. Our responsibility now is to be aligned with the heart of Christ by walking under the leadership and direction of the Holy Spirit. Our prayer must be to learn to understand and respond to the Spirit’s promptings—to hear the messages that will help us. Believers do not live from the outside in but from the inside out. Instead of leaning on our own thoughts, we must seek to demonstrate the spirit of kindness every moment of each day. This will allow us to respond quickly to what God wants us to do, and it will ground us in His love as our hearts continue to be transformed into the heart of Christ.
Prayer for kindness
Father God,
I come to You humbly, asking that You please forgive my wrong actions, because they took me out of alignment with Your Will. Father forgive me for being less than the person You’ve called me to be. I want to be a worthy witness of Your goodness, mercy, and grace. I desire people to see my good works and give You all the glory. Please help me to do this and much more for Your Kingdom. Thank You for forgiving me for not being as kind-hearted as I should. Please open my eyes so that I can see the habit patterns and attitudes that cause me to dismiss the feelings of others, and to not show compassion and thoughtfulness when I should. Teach me to see others as You see them, so that I continue to deepen my heart for people. I desire to live by Your standard of kindness and not my own. Thank You for continuing to open my eyes to opportunities to sow seeds of good deeds, and thank You for giving me the agility and soundness of mind to run the race You have laid before me. I thank You for all Your many blessings, in the powerful name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“God’s Standard of Kindness”, written for victoryinjesuschrist.life© 2020. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
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