The fruit of kindness or gentleness. No long
explanation is needed for the fruit of kindness
or gentleness. We all intuitively understand
what that fruit entails. I think most of us would
say we're kind people and by that I think we
mean well -intentioned. But I know that all of
us can say there are times and people where it
can be hard to be kind or gentle. Or maybe we're
kind on the surface, we are polite, but we know
our ugly thoughts. So today I'm going to focus
on how we can produce this fruit. 1st Corinthians
16 14 says, Let all your things be done with
charity. Motivation is a big help to being kind
and gentle. When we are motivated by love, it's
easier to be kind. I really don't think you can
have one without the other. Love is patient.
Love is kind. Jesus was moved with compassion,
and it's easier to be kind to someone when we
have compassion. It's easier to put up with bad
behavior or bad habits when we have compassion.
If we are having a problem being kind, we should
pray for the root cause of kindness. We can pray
what Paul prayed for the church in Thessalonica
in 1 Thessalonians 312, and the Lord make you
to increase and abound in love one toward another
and toward all men, even as we do toward you.
Remember the parable Jesus told about the tree
that wasn't producing fruit and the master was
like, cut it down. Why even have it grow? But
the gardener was like, let me fertilize it and
prune it. Love is that fertilizer. It is that
extra nutrition that helps the fruit come forth.
I had a friend remind me that the fruit of the
Spirit is a result of being filled with the Spirit.
So in many ways we don't have to produce fruit
by our own willpower. We produce fruit because
of a focus on being in relationship with Jesus.
We grow fruit because of our love, our outflow
of the love of the Spirit. There's something
amazing that happens when we set our affection
on Jesus. There is an overflow that comes out
as we interact with other people. If you're finding
yourself unkind, rough or short with the people
or a person you are interacting with, you need
to check on your relationship with Jesus. There
are some things that we can prune to facilitate
growth. Proverbs 31 26 says, she openeth her
mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law
of kindness. James 1 19 says, wherefore my beloved
brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow
to speak, slow to wrath. I feel like this is
probably something most of us can use, slowing
down our verbal response as well as our emotional
response. I like how James says, My beloved brethren,
and then he says something hard. Be swift to
hear, be quick to hear and slow to speak. Stop
talking so much. Slow to anger. Don't be angry
so much. I think this is a good example of kindness.
James is kind. He uses a term of endearment and
then he says something hard. And I'm not advocating
that we not say anything. James clearly shows
how we speak in kindness. I believe if you love
people you can say pretty hard things to them.
Being a speaker of truth is so very important
but tact and in love are essential for kindness
and gentleness as you speak truth. If you have
strong character where you are consistent in
relationships with people, when you run your
life with wisdom and walk in the spirit, people
are naturally drawn to that and you can say things
that are true with a gentle spirit. I've had
to say, that is not godly. That goes against
biblical principle. But you can say it gently.
You can say it with kindness. And this also takes
practice. But if we are quick to hear and slow
to speak, it helps a lot. We can practice not
speaking, but listening. We can practice responding
well in hard situations. One thing is to go into
a situation with a plan. If you're shy, maybe
the plan is to say hi first to the cashier or
to three people in a crowd. Maybe it is to make
sure you thank people for what they did that
day, even if it was their job and what they were
supposed to be doing. You might wake up and think,
today I'm going to speak kindly to my difficult
kid. And you know, you probably won't hit the
mark the first time. You're going to determine
to not snap at that person who's rude at work
and you're going to do good for like 90 seconds
and then respond sarcastically. But if you are
persistent, things will change. If we keep asking
God to fill our mouths with wisdom and our tongue
to speak the law of kindness, if we pray that
the Lord would bridle our tongues and help us
be slow to respond and slow to anger, it will
happen.