“So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature…the fruit of the Spirit is kindness and goodness…” Galatians 5:16,22.
“So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature…the fruit of the Spirit is kindness and goodness…” Galatians 5:16,22.
November 11 is Remembrance Day when we remember the sacrifice made by Canadians to procure the freedoms we enjoy today. Let us never take their service for granted. Freedom is hard won and easily lost.
For the Christian, one can hardly think of Remembrance Day without also thinking of the sacrifice on the cross that Jesus made for our restored right standing with God. We are thankful people for our Canadian freedom and more importantly, we are thankful to God for our freedom in Christ. We are looking at the character qualities of Jesus that the Spirit grows in our life if we will let Him. Today we think for a bit about kindness and goodness.
Kindness – or gentleness in some translations, is a sweetness of temper that thinks about other people. We do see kindness at work in our city – little acts of warmth that make a city a human place to live.
Jesus showed kindness throughout his earthly ministry – care for those who couldn’t pay him back. The woman with the issue of blood; the ten lepers facing a sad and lonely end; the paralyzed man lying by the pool longing to be whole; the lady whose only son had died. Jesus took time to notice the needs around him and stepped in with kindness. God doesn’t treat us as we deserve.
How beautiful when I see this at work in our church. I hear of someone driving another one to church each week who can no longer drive themselves. Meals and care brought to families in difficult times. I think of Allan and Marlyne Esau – Allan is in heaven now. They adopted a section in the church to love and care for – inquiring about children and surgeries and such.
This week I was part of the annual city prayer breakfast – a full house and a wonderful time of acknowledging the supremacy of God and seeking the good of the city. As Christians we are citizens of two countries. Our eternal citizenship is in heaven, but our temporary citizenship is in Chilliwack – which operates in an environment tainted with sin.
Eventually the Israelites were taken into exile to Babylon. There they sat by the river and wept as they remembered Zion (Psalm 137:1). But Jeremiah back in Jerusalem/Zion sent them a letter that God inspired for them about their situation. It said: “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God if Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters, find wives for your sons and give you sons and daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” Jeremiah 29:4-7.
So as good citizens of this place, we seek its good. We are involved in this place to help sanctify it – that’s part of our calling.
Kindness and goodness – Holy Spirit, grow these things in us that we may be more and more like Christ!
Pastor Leon Throness
