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Across the Pastor’s Desk by George Marin

“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.

This is the fruit the Holy Spirit produces in the life of the committed believer. These are real character traits that are produced as evidence of the infilling of the Holy Spirit; they cannot and should not be faked. They are produced for several reasons, with a couple of the more beneficial being that they are for the glory of God, and for the enjoyment of those with whom we share life and those with whom we will interact.

I want to focus on one fruit in particular today: kindness. In my quiet time this week, I came across this quote from Mark Twain, “Kindness is a language which the blind can see and the deaf can hear.” It struck me to my core. Many times, Dr. PJ and I are immersed in languages different from our own. We just returned from our sabbatical, in which many times, we were surrounded by people speaking languages other than our own. We had no way to communicate other than through a smile, a handshake, a wave, an offer to give up our seat to an elder or to hold the door for someone. And this was reciprocated to us as well. I can assure you, kindness is a universal and very powerful language that will be enjoyed by most — not all, but most.

I remember, while on our sabbatical, I greeted a man in a restaurant who appeared to be homeless. I asked if he had eaten. He scowled at me, so I left him alone. I then saw him on the street, and I smiled and waved. He then approached me at the gas station and asked why I kept greeting him. He yelled, “It made me feel disrespected.” I replied that I was just trying to show him kindness. We struck up a conversation. Later, he asked me for some spare change, which I gave him. He warmed up after a while and shared with me a little bit about his life, his broken family, his son that he lost, and his addiction. Then he allowed me to pray for him.

A little kindness goes a long way, and everyone needs a little kindness shown to them. We all need it!

I want to encourage you to ask God to help you manifest the fruit of kindness in your life today. Ask God to allow you to share kindness with the ones who really need it the most. Ask him to highlight the ones that have been praying to God for a sign of his true existence, and then let him use you to pour kindness on someone today.

“She opens her mouth in [skillful and godly] wisdom, And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue [giving counsel and instruction].” Proverbs 31:26 AMP
I love you — I’m in your corner!

George Marin is a pastor at Grace Christian Church in Albert Lea.