Last evening, Jeanne and I were in the Festival Foods parking lot unloading the stuff from our cart into the car. Jeanne started to take the cart back to the rack and a man walking by said, "Let me do that for you." He just grabbed the cart and took it to a rack; I'm not sure if he said Merry Christmas but he then disappeared into the store. Jeanne said, "Cool, that was so nice of that guy. A random act of kindness at Christmas."
I thought about that. Christmas seems to bring out random acts of kindness in many people. People give extra money to the Salvation Army. People donate coats for kids. Other donate toys for tots. At our church, people buy presents for kids of prisoners who otherwise wouldn't have a good Christmas.
I like all of these random acts of kindness. The Word of God says kindness is one of the marks of the love of Christ. So.......if I claim to have the love of Christ in me, then acts of kindness should never be random but frequent. Frequent acts of kindness. Would the people in my life say that kindness is one of the marks of 1 Corinthians 13 love that they can see in me. They should.
We live in an unkind world. Let's make it a point as a child of God to work to counteract that. Ask God to show you how you can go counter to the world system and frequently show acts of kindness to the people that God puts into your life. Family, yes certainly. Friends and co-workers, yes. Neighbors, yes. And to the stranger, absolutely. It will be one of your best witnessing moments. Up North Wisdom says that if you have that desire, God will give you an opportunity today to do that. And not just this Christmas season but every day of the year you will never lack for these opportunities. I guarantee it.
A very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. The best is yet to come!!
baddespel
4 years ago
Pastor Jerry if I'm being honest, I find myself doing random acts of kindness to most others, than my own family. I need a definite change in that area, thank you for the reminder. To my family: I will be bringing it on; 1 Corinthians 13 in 2012.
ReplyDeleteI know what you are saying, Melissa. Sometimes it is more difficult to be kind to family. I think, though, that if I can't be kind first and foremost to my family, how can I really show genuine kindness to others? Family should be my first ministry. Is it always? Absolutely not. Am I always kind to my husband, children, and extended family? Certainly not. But, I should strive for that and I believe the random acts of kindness to others will come more naturally if I do.
ReplyDeleteI am feeling very blessed on this Christmas eve morning...blessed with my life, my family, my friends, and my Jesus. See you in a few hours, Dad. Merry Christmas!