Lesson Six: The Fruit of Kindness SUMMARY: We will look at the concept of kindness as expressed in the life of a Christian. We will look not only at individual acts of kindness, but also at how kindness can be expressed by the whole Christian community. LEAD-IN QUESTIONS: 1.
Who would you consider to be the kindest person that you have ever known – how did they express their kindness?
other words, they are of the same kind. Adam and Eve are both made in the Image of the God, and literally made from one another.
The word kind is used again to define groupings later in Genesis when Noah is commanded by God to preserve 2. Are there ways that kindness can be abused? animals from the flood. “Take with you seven pairs of Explain what you mean. all clean animals, the male and its mate; and a pair of 3. How can the Church, as a corporate body, demon- the animals that are not clean, the male and its mate; and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and strate kindness? female, to keep their kind alive on the face of all the 4. What are the best ways that we can practice kindness earth.” (Genesis 7:2) The word, as previously noted, at home, at work, and in public? differentiates species from one another according to their common characteristics
Defining Kindness Several dictionaries that take the word “kindness,” and simply turn it in on itself. Some say, for example, that kindness is the act of being kind. That doesn’t give us a whole lot to work with, so let’s first look at the broader definition of the word, kind. Merriam-Webster defines kind, first, as: “a group united by common traits or interests.”1 So, in this case, kind refers to bunching things according to common traits. We might say that all people with blonde hair, or all left-handed people, are of the same “kind.” We can also classify abilities according to their kind. If we have a group of musicians, we can say that they are of the same kind, and so on.
The second definition of “kind” in Merriam-Webster is “of a sympathetic or helpful nature.”2 Several passages of Scripture fit with this concept. For example, in the familiar “love chapter” in his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul says that “love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.” In his letter to the believers at Colossae, Paul indicates that Christfollowers should have numerous godly qualities such as “compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” (Colossians 3:12) Likewise, in the latter part of his letter to the Ephesians, he instructs the believers to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32) Clearly, kindness is a character trait that God expects to be visibly operating in His people.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines kindness as: “the about other The Bible speaks of this act of classification as well. In quality of being generous, helpful, and caring 3 people, or an act showing this quality.” Vocabulary.com the Genesis creation story we read, “Then God said, ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, defines kindness as: “the quality of being warmheartsympathetic; and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with ed and considerate and humane and tendency to be kind and forgiving.”4 Thus, the words the seed in it’… And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth kind and kindness are centered around the qualities of living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things being “humane and sympathetic, or generous, helpful, and wild animals of the earth of every kind.’” (Genesis and caring.” This will be the direction we take as we 1:11,24) Here, “kind” defines the groupings of animals try to figure out how kindness looks in the life of the and vegetation according to their type or species. Christ-follower. As the story continues, God does not find a suitable mate for Adam; none of the other creatures are of the same “kind” as Adam. So, God takes a rib from Adam and forms the woman, Eve. The two words for man and woman in Hebrew are Ish (man) and Ishah (woman), With these definitions in mind, let’s look at some expressing the physical link between the two humans. related synonyms to see how kindness is expressed When Adam sees Eve, he proclaims, “This now is bone in life experience. The word, humane, for example, is of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” (Genesis 2:23) In intriguing. The core of the word “humane” is the word,
Humane
1 https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kind 2 https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kind 3 https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/kindness 4 https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/kindness
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