It’s May and here at Joy99 we are focusing on KINDNESS!
Have you ever thought about the difference between being nice and being kind? Perhaps you use those words interchangeably. They are actually very different. We are never asked to be nice in scripture. However, we are instructed to be kind!
Being nice means doing something pleasing for someone else, but it is a gesture that lacks depth. A nice person opens doors for a stranger or tells a friend they have food stuck in their teeth. Niceness lacks conviction. Being nice may be saying what someone wants to hear when really it isn’t the truth. Niceness without kindness behind it is people pleasing, possibly for the sake of personal gain. Nice people may be liked, but they are not necessarily kind.
The virtue of kindness is rooted in Scripture. It’s a fruit of the Holy Spirit and is a radical way of living! Kindness displays the love of Jesus that we have experienced in our own lives. Kindness involves a depth of compassion. Kindness is always others-centered and acts without need of reward. Acting in kindness may mean having uncomfortable conversations and setting boundaries, knowing that there is a greater good as a result.
Being nice is easier than being kind, but it is not the best. Kindness involves our hearts and is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Would you say that you are nice or kind? How might you increase your kindness to a lost and broken world so loved by God?
Elsie