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Welcome to the month of February!! It’s time for February Fun Fridays, counting down the days until March Break and Spring, and thinking about how we work through the whole Valentine’s Day thing.  Here at PCS we switch over to a look at the fifth Fruit of the Spirit, kindness.

 

Kindness seems to be the simplest of the Fruit to understand, but in some cases I think we cut it short by just thinking it means to be nice.  But if we consider that all the Fruit are characteristics attributed to who Christ was, nice just doesn’t seem to measure up.  Our Saviour was so much more than nice or kind.  As we dive into what “Kindness” means here at the school, we are spending time looking at the why and the purpose of being kind to others, not just the ways we can be kind.

 

One of my favorite books of the Bible is the book of Proverbs.  I appreciate the directness of the wisdom, the simplicity of understanding and also how it usually speaks in the context of compare and contrast to help one properly understand the impact of the opposite of the wisdom sayings. There are also themes that we can pick up and understand as we dig into the purpose of the verses.

 

In reading my devotions the other day, the passage shared was focused on how a righteous man is called to act during troubling times. Proverbs 11:9-10 speaks about how the righteous and the godless react differently during conflict and the impact that results in.  The author goes on to describe what he interprets as Solomon’s directions on how a righteous man should act in these conflicts or tension.

 

Act neighbourly

Speak thoughtfully

Share godly knowledge

Live righteously

Rejoice always

 

Simple little steps but oh so hard when life seems out of control around you or the conflicts you find yourself in.  As I read these however, I was struck that although they are geared towards what we should do during conflict, these righteous actions would serve us well at all times and I would suggest that they are the foundations of living life with an attitude of kindness towards others.  They are the directions to a righteous life.  Which in turn leads to kindness.

 

This also leads me to consider the two greatest commandments given to us from Christ himself in Mark 12: 29-31:

 

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

 

Righteousness = Kindness