Kindess

I preached this in church this morning. It was an all-age service which is why it's a little less formal and shorter than my other sermons. Also, the Prezis included in this post aren't actually the ones that I used in church (because I didn't have enough time to work out how to make the Prezi work in church) but the images are still the same, it's just I used PowerPoint in church rather than Prezi. There are indicators in the text for when to change the 'slide'.

Part 1 - Reflecting God



When we look at ourselves in a mirror, we see just us. This is not the case when God looks at us. When God looks at us, He sees the Holy Spirit within us. [next slide] And that is because when we become Christians, the seed of the Holy Spirit is planted within us and begins to grow. [next slide] What does this mean for us? It means that we become more and more like God each day, in all of His characteristics.  One of these characteristics, the one I'm going to talk about today, [next slide] is kindness.

[next slide] What do we mean by kindness? Kindness really means to go out of your way to be kind to someone; to help them, to make them feel better, or simply just to show that you care about them. So how can we see God's kindness? Well, we look to Jesus. [next slide] Jesus, being fully divine and fully human, is the perfect example of God's kindness in the context of humanity. There were so many things that He did that were just so kind. [next slide] In this passage, we see that Jesus eats with tax collectors and those deemed 'sinners'; those on the very bottom rung of the social ladder, those that others would have ostracised and wouldn't want anything to do with. Jesus actually sat down at ate with them. [next slide] In another passage in Mark, a blind man wants to be healed, but Jesus doesn't do it in front of everyone. He leads the man out of the town to heal him in private. Not only that, but He takes him by the hand and physically leads him out. And this is how we know that God is kind. Because Jesus was kind, God is kind; because God is kind, the Holy Spirit is kind.

[next slide] Which also means that we are kind. If the seed of the Holy Spirit is planted within us, then we reflect God's nature and we have this potential inside of us to be as close to God's true nature as possible. Obviously, we can't be perfect, but we can reflect those characteristics of God and God cannot look at us without seeing the Holy Spirit within us. The Holy Spirit cannot be uprooted from within us. It will always be there, growing and changing who we are day by day, making us more like Him.

Part 2 - Pass It On



I've already said that kindness is going out of your way to be kind. Kindness requires effort. [next slide] And because of this, people assume that it is something we need to achieve. Something we need to strive and struggle for. Sometimes we even make the mistake that we need to get this struggle right in order to be saved. But this is not true. Jesus already secured our salvation on the cross. [next slide] There is a line in a hymn called To God Be the Glory which says, "The vilest offender who truly believes,/ That moment from Jesus, a pardon receives". This basically means that we don't need to do anything extra in order to be saved, as long as we believe.

[next slide] But just because we don't need to struggle to be kind, doesn't mean that it isn't a struggle. Sometimes it can be hard to be kind to that person who isn't very kind to us, or who we don't particularly like. However, kindness is not fuelled by pure will power alone. We have help. Yes, kindness requires a conscious decision, but the Holy Spirit growing within us ensures that it gets easier, that we become more and more kind. You can't plant an acorn in the ground and not expect an oak tree to grow; in the same way, you can't have the Holy Spirit planted within you and not expect all of the characteristics of God - including kindness - to grow within.

[next slide] Another way of looking at kindness as not such a daunting subject is to take one day at a time; one thing at a time. We can think that as soon as we become Christians, a switch is flicked and instantly we need to be all-kind. But growth is gradual. It takes time, and we have to accept God's timing. We don't need to suddenly be all-kind. Apart from anything else, it would be exhausting. Instead, just take things one day at a time. One thing at a time. [next slide] Maybe tomorrow you'll tell your friends to stop gossipping about that other person in your class or at work. Maybe the day after you'll give up your seat on a bus or train to someone who might need it more than you. These little, random acts of kindness can really go a long way.

[next slide] I just want to leave you with this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson: "To know that one life has breathed a little easier just because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." We don't need to be kind all of the time to everyone. If just one person, from one act of kindness, has been affected and helped, then we can consider ourselves successes for that day. And maybe, just maybe, through that one act of kindness we can create a snowball effect and inspire others to pass it on.