I hope you’ve been encouraged as you’ve read daily through the book of Proverbs (as we’re going through our Get Wisdom series)?! It has been so good to grab these little truths and apply them throughout the day. What a way to build a habit that is going to help us live godlier lives.
One verse that recently stuck out to me was, “Your kindness will reward you, but your cruelty will destroy you.” — Proverbs 11:17 (NLT)
Such a simple but such an impactful verse to obey! Being kind will reward you. Being cruel will destroy you. This can apply to our thoughts, our actions and our words.
When we are thinking kind thoughts, when we are thinking the best about people, our attitudes are completely different during the course of our day. How we interact with people and what we think about them is affected by our thoughts. The opposite happens when we think cruel thoughts; it eats at us and leads to destructive thinking.
What about our actions? Do we put other people first? Are we serving others? When we take the focus off ourselves, we can show kindness!
Finally, we need to use the right words. Are we building into people with kindness? Or, are we tearing them down with bitter words?
When we use a verse like this to filter our day, we can easily see that being kind can bring us life. If we are cruel, it will destroy us.
This week, I have two challenges for you. The first is to faithfully read the daily Proverbs and apply one verse to your life. The second is to seek out ways to be kind to someone! Call a friend who is having a rough time — give them a word of encouragement. Send a text message to a person who you are super thankful for. Buy the drink for the person behind you at Starbucks. Smile at the person who is your checker at the grocery store. Try asking them how they are doing and thank them for helping you!
Learning to be kind,
Posted in A Word from the Pastor