The Fruit Of The Spirit- Kindness

“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!” Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)

Kindness is defined as a quality of being friendly, generous or warmhearted.

This word again shows how the fruit of the Spirit is really a singular characteristic rather than a series of individual qualities which we might mix and match. A kind person is someone who is also loving, peaceful, patient and gentle.

To be kind means that we empathise with other people and try to give of ourselves to them. The nature of that giving depends on the needs of the other person and on our own resources. In one situation kindness might be expressed as a gift of money. In another situation it might be expressed in the giving of time and energy to help somebody out. In a third situation it might be that an encouraging word is the way to express kindness.

Some people are naturally generous in temperament while others have to work at it.

The key is empathy, seeing how another person is feeling and meeting them at a point of need. Kindness is always outward looking, seeking to build other people and engage with them.

Kindness takes us out of ourselves, but in doing this it grows us in our love for other people.