On Display For All to See

Kindness –

Kindness is one of the many fruits of the spirit. When your soul has fruit it is fed and happy. When your soul bears fruit you make others around you happy (in a health way).

If you were born to a family that gave out love, support, and security, you were already predisposed to being kind. You saw it in action and caught hold of what it does for you and for others. If you were raised in a home where kindness was not as freely handed out or you had to earn every smile you received, you may have desired more free kindness in your life. You still, likely, encountered the impact kindness can have through other ways, but maybe you took less of it for granted.

Recently I have seen a lot of social media posts where people are lashing out in revenge at others who have hurt them. The words being used are very uncharacteristic of these people – largely because I know the individuals to be kind.

We have all heard by now that forgiveness is often more healing for the forgiver than the forgiven. In reverse, what if lashing out in anger is worse for the angered than the person who caused the anger? It is healthy to admit how you feel; I won’t deny you that. Is it healthy for you to admit your pain to other people? Yes.

My question to you, though, is what is unkindness good for? In my experience, the only things that have come of making unkind statements are regret and social media reminders of your pain. When you close your heart to other people you may feel safer for a while, but what you have actually done is started strangling your vines that have been bearing fruit. Much like being kind, fruit on a vine is always vulnerable. It is soft and fragile and eventually falls off if not picked off. The vine would be safer if it did not produce fruit. It is already pretty strong, and the fruit dangling from it’s end is often on a weak stem. So then I ask, does the strength of a vine come from growth or does it come from purpose? Does it carry nutrients through itself for survival or because it needs to produce and offer fruit? In my unstudied opinion it is the latter. Every year the fruit the plant bears grows in number. There is a cycle there to be learned from. Things will come along, like bugs, that will threaten the fruit and the plant. Such is life, right? We all encounter situations that threaten our ability to make thoughtful, good decisions. We stop being as kind and start focusing on ourselves more at that point. Sometimes it is for a season and we are better for it. Sometimes it perpetuates and we shrivel.

As Christians, are we allowed to lash out and be angry at people? There are plenty of times God was angry and said He was going to do some really awful things to His people. Anger is definitely allowed; Christians are supposed to be real people after all. The things that cause us to use angry words today are more numerous than I have ever experienced before (Walmart checkout lines, parking, the wrong brand of coffee, silly stuff…all producing literal anger). We also live in a world where awareness is a buzz word for everything. In our quest to make sure everyone is aware of everything, we also seem to think raising awareness means raising acceptance. As people feel more comfortable as others become more “aware” we start losing our restraint. Suddenly everything that we want to say, hurtful or productive, is on display for all to see. We feel validated in our opinion because we deserve to, right? Validated, sure…but to a point where we write it in stone? Maybe we should step back and think about it for a while.

While wrapping my head around this subject, I was inspired to look at a couple of verses on this subject. This is what resulted:

Isaiah 41 New Living Translation (NLT)

God’s Help for Israel

⁵ The lands beyond the sea watch in fear. Remote lands tremble and mobilize for war.
⁶ The idol makers encourage one another, saying to each other, “Be strong!” [this makes me shudder]
⁷ The carver encourages the goldsmith, and the molder helps at the anvil. “Good,” they say. “It’s coming along fine.” Carefully they join the parts together, then fasten the thing in place so it won’t fall over.

⁸ “But as for you, Israel my servant, Jacob my chosen one, descended from Abraham my friend,
⁹ I have called you back from the ends of the earth, saying, ‘You are my servant.’ For I have chosen you and will not throw you away.

…

²¹ “Present the case for your idols,” says the Lord. “Let them show what they can do,”
    says the King of Israel.^[a]
22 “Let them try to tell us what happened long ago so that we may consider the evidence.
Or let them tell us what the future holds, so we can know what’s going to happen.
²³ Yes, tell us what will occur in the days ahead. Then we will know you are gods. In fact, do anything—good or bad! Do something that will amaze and frighten us.
²⁴ But no! You are less than nothing and can do nothing at all. Those who choose you pollute themselves.

²⁵ “But I have stirred up a leader who will approach from the north. From the east he will call on my name. I will give him victory over kings and princes. He will trample them as a potter treads on clay.

²⁶ “Who told you from the beginning that this would happen? Who predicted this, making you admit that he was right? No one said a word!
²⁷ I was the first to tell Zion, ‘Look! Help is on the way!’^[b] I will send Jerusalem a messenger with good news.
²⁸ Not one of your idols told you this. Not one gave any answer when I asked.
²⁹ See, they are all foolish, worthless things. All your idols are as empty as the wind.

Those words are definitely not “kind” feeling. What we can learn from scripture here is that God only speaks truth, and in that truth he only speaks painful words when they will be productive – not simply because He is angry. Did you notice that in the middle where there is a lot of talk about people creating Gods that have no power, God says he STILL will not throw us away? To that, I say, how kind! These people created idols for all to see, thus misrepresenting their faith and their God. They were not bearing fruit that was going to produce anything but more rotten fruit. God, although firm, remained loving and kind; understanding and wise.

We, as humans, feel like we have so much power. Sometimes we utilize that power to make other people feel small with our unkind words. Maybe others are deserving of our anger, but it doesn’t mean we should act on that. There is a verse in the bible that says that all things are permissible but not all things are beneficial (I Corinthians 10:23). Let that sink in for a second.

My ask of you today is to remember that how you feel in your anger could very well be temporary. What angers you in the moment may be warranted, but it could also be strangling your ability to produce fruit – which I know is who you truly are. Before speaking words of anger, check in with God and see if they are truly beneficial – are you feeding your vine to survive with those words, or are you feeding your vine to serve your purpose?

When all is said and done, Jesus IS (Is Salvation). His plan is good. He made you good for his purpose. Bear his fruit.