Kindness

On Sunday, we heard a great talk at my church about Kindness from Pastor Glen Davies.
I would encourage you to have a listen to Glen's talk here

I believe kindness is one of the most effective ways we can re-present Jesus to the world around us.
Jesus intentionally searched for the weary, sick, poor and lonely and showed them kindness.
Combined with the supernatural power of God in our lives we can replicate this same kindness to the people in our sphere of influence.

Based on Romans 12:9-21, Glen highlighted five keys to helping us demonstrate kindness:

1. Remember the Kindness of a Saviour - our love and kindness towards others is an overflow from what Christ has done for us; it is a part of our identity in Christ
2. Fuel up - we need to constantly go back to the Source and get refilled with more of the Holy Spirit on a daily basis; we can only give out of what we have received
3. Embrace Opposition - we need to bless our enemies, bringing the 'opposite spirit' to people that seem to be hard to get along with; they may in fact be the people that need our kindness the most and they may end up becoming 'people of peace' in your life.
4. Let God do the judging - as Glen said, "Judging distracts us from finding Kingdom solutions. It distances us from personal responsibility." Time is too short for us to be trying to do God's job. Lets just do what he has called US to do - love others.
5. Not so random acts of kindness - its not just about when or what we "feel like" doing; its about being intentional and asking God to show us who we can be kind to. There is nothing more powerful in relational evangelism that those moments when we get on board with what God is doing and let the Holy Spirit flow through us in that moment.

A big thanks again to Glen for his insightful thoughts.

We literally have opportunities every day to share the love and kindness of Jesus with people in our world. Here are some helpful tips to get you started, but be intentional and ask God 'who', 'when' and 'how' to have the greatest impact. Partner with the Holy Spirit and enjoy the moment.

So, who is God impressing on your now that you could demonstrate kindness to?

I'll leave you with a quote from Saint Basil:

"A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; 

he who sows courtesy reaps friendship; and he who plants kindness gathers love"

Saying thank you

On Saturday night I partnered with a few young guys from another church to participate in an outreach on the streets of Northbridge. Every few months we join the HOPE WA crew to worship and pray and then a few of us head out to share God's love with people in creative ways.
On this particular Saturday it was the National Day of Thanksgiving so we decided a simple way of connecting with people was to thank them for who they are and what they do. We went into cafes and restaurants, spoke to bouncers, security guards and police officers. At each point we simply thanked them for their service to the community. As you can imagine the response was positive and in most cases it caught people by surprise. We gave out chocolates and cards that said 'thank you'. We thanked people "on behalf of the church in Perth" which was a nice way to express a simple authentic representation of the 'Church' to people on the street. There was no agenda other than to acknowledge, appreciate and love people.

It was a real revelation for me to see what an impact a simple word of thanks can have for people. We seem to live in a society where many of the things we do go unappreciated. While for some people this is no big deal, for others a simple acknowledgement means the world to them. I found this with a couple of groups of police offices that we met. They perform a very thankless role in society and really valued us taking the time to thank them for what they do.

Jesus was always around people. He acknowledged the people around around him, like Zacchaeus in the tree (Luke 19:1-10), the woman who touch His robe (Luke 8:43-48) and the sick man who was lowered through the roof (Luke 5:17-20). He noticed people, valued their presence and who they were and loved them through His words, actions and power.

Who are the people that we can 'thank' in our everyday lives.
Our awareness of these people followed by a simple act of love and appreciation can make a world of difference to a person.

In a society where we are increasingly distracted by our own 'devices' (e.g., smartphone) maybe we need to take our eyes off the distractions and begin observing more intentionally the people around us. They are all loved by God and they can all experience the love of Jesus through us.