I was reminded recently of the “Words of Kindness” jar that I use each December. Throughout the month leading up to Christmas I encourage others to fast words that are critical, sarcastic, hurtful and unkind. Each time I find myself saying something unkind I put some money in my Words of Kindness jar. Then right before Christmas that money is donated to some charity or worthy cause that is kind to others. I have found that when our words COST us something we are more conscience of how we spend them.
No, it’s not December yet and I’m not asking you to start your jar now, but you could.
I want to share with you some of the verses I have been reading lately on kindness.
“There are some who ask, “Who will be good to us?” Let your kindness, Lord, shine brightly on us. 7 You brought me more happiness than a rich harvest of grain and grapes.” Psalm 4:6-7 CEV
“Your kindness and love will always be with me each day of my life, and I will live forever in your house, Lord.” Psalm 23:6 CEV
“Don’t let them do to me what they want. People tell lies about me and make terrible threats, 13 but I know I will live to see how kind you are. 14 Trust the Lord!
Be brave and strong and trust the Lord.” Psalm 27:12-14 CEV
“I celebrate and shout because you are kind. You saw all my suffering, and you cared for me.” Psalm 31:7 CEV
“The Lord is truthful; he can be trusted. 5 He loves justice and fairness, and he is kind to everyone everywhere on earth.” Psalm 33:4-5 CEV
“If you feel you must brag, then have enough sense to brag about worshiping me, the Lord. What I like best is showing kindness, justice, and mercy to everyone on earth.” Jeremiah 9:24 CEV
“The good news is spreading all over the world with great success. It has spread in that same way among you, ever since the first day you learned the truth about God’s wonderful kindness” Colossians 1:6 CEV
“What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels. Because of God’s wonderful kindness, Jesus died for everyone. And now that Jesus has suffered and died, he is crowned with glory and honor!” Hebrews 2:9 CEV
“So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help.” Hebrews 4:16 CEV
Our Father has set an example for us to follow. The nature of His character is kindness. When we are kind we bring honor to our Father.
I think I will begin a word study on kind or kindness for the next few weeks. What a great way to lead into the Thanksgiving season – focusing on kindness. When I did my word search on Biblegateway.com I found 479 different verses where the word kind or kindness is used in the CEV version of the Bible. Just reading 10 verses a day, in context, will be a great boost to my kindness meter. Will you join me?
“Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, or…” I Corinthians 13:4 CEV