Being Kind

Kindness is something that can be hard to find in our world today. The Bible speaks about kindness many times. Kindness is even held aloft as one of the fruits of the Spirit along with love, joy, peace patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness and self control mentioned in Galatians 5:22. The world would be a better place if everyone treated each other with kindness. We need it now, more than ever. It does not take much to be kind in most circumstances. Sometimes we make it harder than it should be. Something as simple and easy as a genuine smile can brighten the day of a person who is not expecting it. Being polite and kind to others can sometimes be just what they need to make their day. Holding the door for someone, letting them go ahead of you in line, smiling and saying hello, treating them with respect, you never know.

Remembering our common union

These days it seems we Christians have a hard time treating each other with kindness. We want to fight and argue over our views and interpretations and forget that as Christians we all belong to Christ. A friend of mine talked about relationships and how they seem to come to an end. He said it is based on what the relationship is about. If it is based on some ‘thing’ or some activity, once we get tired of that particular thing and move on the relationships based on that activity usually come to an end. The common ground of trust in Christ and His grace is what does not change and is something that can hold together a friendship, old or new. We are all one in Christ after all. Remembering our common nature as God's children can inspire us to acts of kindness each day. You never know who it may affect and where it may lead.

Jim was raised in the Methodist church and spent nearly sixty years in the organized church. He and his wife became dissatisfied with the way things were going and became very disillusioned the weekly service format. After several years of looking for answers and trying different churches, they left the religious system and have been living for God outside the walls of religion and traditional church. Jim believes that God loves all people and that everyone should be loved and accepted as is. Jim started writing a blog called Done with Religion where he talks about various topics of Christian living in non-religious ways. Jim and his wife live in the Columbus, Ohio area of the USA. They enjoy their family, traveling and meeting people from all walks of life.

See all previous articles by Jim Gordon