The Impact of Kindness Pt. 2 — Morning Devotions

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Transcript

There are some people who we find difficult to like and show kindness to us. It’s a bit of an effort. Have you seen the Soup Guy episode in Seinfeld, where Jerry Seinfeld and George are ordering soup at a soup stand? Now, George complains about not receiving bread with his meal, and he gets a bit testy about this. And the soup guy with a deep sternness says to him, no soup for you. Now, there was no kindness in that comment. It’s a bit like this, I’m granting kindness based on my estimation of how worthy you are.

The Impact of Kindness Pt. 1 — Morning Devotions

But that’s not my right. I think that we withhold grace from people in order to control them. And somehow we think that being mean or unkind will make people do what we want them to do. But that is not love, that’s manipulation. Very different to offering kindness instead.

Extreme kindness

In the UK in December of 2024, Janet Burr was on her way to meet friends in London when she lost her footing and fell backwards onto the tracks at Chess Hunt rail station in Hertfordshire. Two members of the public jumped to her rescue and carried her back to the safety of the platform before she was taken to hospital. Her son, Ian, reportedly said, she wants to thank these people. They put their lives at risk to save her, and they didn’t even know her. Now, when I saw that story, I guess it’s an amazing example of extreme kindness when strangers risk their own safety to save another person.

I feel greatly encouraged when I read stories like that. Here’s another story. Mark was walking home from school one day, and he noticed the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped all the books he was carrying, along with two sweaters, a baseball bat, a glove, and a small tape recorder. Mark knelt down, helped the boy pick up the scattered articles. They were going the same way, so he helped to carry part of the burden. And as they walked, Mark discovered the boy’s name was Bill, and that he loved video. Games, baseball and history.

He was having a lot of trouble with his other subjects, and he’d just broken up with his girlfriend. So they arrived at Bill’s home first, and Mark was invited to stay for a moment for a Coke and to watch some TV. The afternoon passed pleasantly, and they had a few laughs and shared some small talk, and then Mark went home. They continued to see each other around the school. They had lunch together once or twice, and then both graduated from junior high school and ended up in the same high school where they had brief contact over the years.

Finally, the long-awaited senior year. This was in America, by the way, and 3 weeks before graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could have a talk. And Bill reminded him of that day years ago when they first met. Do you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day? Well, no. You see, I cleaned out my locker because I didn’t want to leave a mess for anyone, and I was going home to commit suicide. But after we had spent some time together talking and laughing. I realised that if I’d killed myself, I would have missed that time.

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You see, Mark, when you picked up my books that day, you did a lot more. You saved my life. Another great story of kindness.

For kindness is the outflow of God’s love and grace.

How true it is that a little act of kindness can produce large results. For kindness is the outflow of God’s love and grace. Kindness is the outstretched arms of the church of the living God. But I wonder if you notice there’s a problem.

In America, there’s a very popular magazine that you might have seen here called Psychology Today. It’s described as a magazine providing insight about everybody’s favourite subject, and what’s that? Ourselves. Yes, it provides insight about me. I am my favourite subject. For example, if there are 12 of us waiting for a bus and you’re #7 in line, and the conductor says there’s room for 7.

How much do we really care about the person behind me, the 8th, 9th, 10th, or 11th person? We’re only concerned about me, #7. I’m number 7. I need to get on this bus. But when God comes into our life, He creates a different sort of attitude, a kindness that thinks of others as much as it thinks of ourselves.

Let’s Pray

Heavenly Father, we’ve thought for a moment this morning about the impact of kindness. How true it is that a simple act of generosity and help can have a lasting impact. Lord, will you lead me today to be kind, specifically towards someone who needs my encouragement or my helping hand? Help me to not be judgmental about people if they’re not kind to me. I pray for wisdom and understanding, and I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Saviour. Amen.

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