Overall Question: What is kindness? How our kindness impact our own lives?

Memory Text: Colossians 3:12 NKJV “Therefore, as [the] elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering.”
Kindness – “the quality of being warm-hearted and considerate and humane and sympathetic”. www.onelook.com

Sunday – The Model of Kindness
Matthew 5:43-48 Holman “43 ¶ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Matthew 5:43 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE The Jews thought themselves authorized to kill any Jew who apostatized; and, though they could not do injury to the Gentiles, in whose country they sojourned, yet they were bound to suffer them to perish, if they saw them in danger of death. Hear their own words: "A Jew sees a Gentile fall into the sea, let him by no means lift him out; for it is written, Thou shalt not rise up against the blood of thy neighbour:-but this is not thy neighbour." Maimon. This shows that by neighbour they understood a Jew; one who was of the same blood and religion with themselves.

Monday – Kindness to a Dead Dog
2 Samuel 9:1-13 God’s Word to the Nations “1 ¶ David asked, "Is there anyone left in Saul’s family to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?" 2 Now, Saul’s family had a servant whose name was Ziba. He was summoned to come to David. "Are you Ziba?" the king asked him. "Yes, I am," he answered. 3 David asked, "Is there someone left in Saul’s family to whom I can show God’s kindness?" "Jonathan has a son who is disabled," Ziba answered. 4 "Where is he?" the king asked. Ziba replied, "He is at the home of Machir, Ammiel’s son, in Lo Debar." 5 So King David sent men to get him from the home of Ammiel’s son Machir in Lo Debar. 6 When Mephibosheth (son of Jonathan and grandson of Saul) came to David, he quickly bowed down with his face touching the ground. "Mephibosheth!" David said to him. "Yes, sir," he answered. 7 "Don’t be afraid," David told him, "I will certainly show you kindness for your father Jonathan’s sake. I will give back to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table." 8 Mephibosheth bowed down again and answered, "Who am I that you would look at a dead dog like me?"
9 ¶ Then the king called for Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, "I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. 10 You, your sons, and your servants should farm the land for him and harvest the crops so that your master’s family will have food to eat. However, your master’s grandson Mephibosheth will always eat at my table." (Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants.) 11 Ziba responded, "I will do everything you’ve commanded, Your Majesty." From then on, Mephibosheth ate at David’s table as one of the king’s sons. 12 Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. Everyone who lived at Ziba’s home became Mephibosheth’s servant. 13 However, Mephibosheth, who was disabled, lived in Jerusalem. He always ate at the king’s table.”
2 Samuel 9:1 COMMENTARY BY MATTHEW HENRY the most proper objects of kindness and charity, frequently will not be found without inquiry. Jonathan was David's sworn friend, therefore he shows kindness to his son Mephibosheth. God is faithful to us; let us not be unfaithful to one another. If Providence has raised us, and our friends and their families are brought low, we must look upon that as giving us the fairer opportunity of being kind to them.
Luke 7:47 20th Century NT “Just then a woman, who was an outcast in the town, having ascertained that Jesus was at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of perfume,”

Tuesday – Kind Words
Ephesians 4:32 William Tyndale’s NT “Be ye courteous one to another, be merciful forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake forgave you.”
Ephesians 4:32 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE Be kind and obliging to each other; study good breeding and gentleness of manners. A Christian cannot be a savage, and he need not be a boor. Never put any person to needless pain.
Proverbs 15:1-5 NRSV “1 ¶ A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. 2 ¶ The tongue of the wise dispenses knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly. 3 ¶ The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. 4 ¶ A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit. 5 ¶ A fool despises a parent’s instruction, but the one who heeds admonition is prudent.”
Proverbs 15:1 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY This statement is so true that even when the procedure is used by skillful deceivers, the soft answer enables them to control their victims and lead them on into greater loss. The natural man or woman tends to answer anger with anger, so that the difficulty is made greater and the wounds long lasting. Only when a genuine love for others fills the soul can the right sort of soft answer be made. Even then, love will often guide one to keep silent until the fury of wrath is spent. But the silence should be a loving, sympathetic silence, not one of tight-closed lips and hard.
Proverbs 25:11-25 NLT “11 ¶ Timely advice is lovely, like golden apples in a silver basket. 12 To one who listens, valid criticism is like a gold earring or other gold jewelry. 13 ¶ Trustworthy messengers refresh like snow in summer. They revive the spirit of their employer. 14 ¶ A person who promises a gift but doesn’t give it is like clouds and wind that bring no rain. 15 ¶ Patience can persuade a prince, and soft speech can break bones. 16 ¶ Do you like honey? Don’t eat too much, or it will make you sick! 17 ¶ Don’t visit your neighbors too often, or you will wear out your welcome. 18 ¶ Telling lies about others is as harmful as hitting them with an ax, wounding them with a sword, or shooting them with a sharp arrow. 19 ¶ Putting confidence in an unreliable person in times of trouble is like chewing with a broken tooth or walking on a lame foot. 20 ¶ Singing cheerful songs to a person with a heavy heart is like taking someone’s coat in cold weather or pouring vinegar in a wound. 21 ¶ If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink. 22 You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads, and the LORD will reward you. 23 ¶ As surely as a north wind brings rain, so a gossiping tongue causes anger! 24 ¶ It’s better to live alone in the corner of an attic than with a quarrelsome wife in a lovely home. 25 ¶ Good news from far away is like cold water to the thirsty.”

Wednesday – Kindness Returned
Luke 6:38 NIV “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."”
Luke 6:38 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE Men live in such a state of social union as renders mutual help necessary; and, as self-interest, pride, and other corrupt passions mingle themselves ordinarily in their commerce, they cannot fail of offending one another. In civil society men must, in order to taste a little tranquillity, resolve to bear something from their neighbours; they must suffer, pardon, and give up many things; without doing which they must live in such a state of continual agitation as will render life itself insupportable. Without this giving and forgiving spirit there will be nothing in civil society, and even in Christian congregations, but divisions, evil surmisings, injurious discourses, outrages, anger, vengeance, and, in a word, a total dissolution of the mystical body of Christ. Thus our interest in both worlds calls loudly upon us to GIVE and to FORGIVE.
Luke 6:35 NIV “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”
Luke 6:35 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY The KJV translation is based on the Vulgate, which reads, “hoping for nothing thence.” On the basis of the Vulgate the Catholic Church for centuries prohibited lending money on interest, and as a result the Jews became the great moneylenders and bankers of Europe. The context of Luke 6:30–35 makes it clear that Christ does not refer here to interest on loans, but rather to the great principle that Christians should give to others (v. 30), treat others equitably (v. 31), do good to others (vs. 31, 35), and love others (v. 32)—without calculating in advance the probability of getting the same or more in return.

Thursday – Put on Kindness
Colossians 3:12-14 BBE “12 ¶ As saints of God, then, holy and dearly loved, let your behaviour be marked by pity and mercy, kind feeling, a low opinion of yourselves, gentle ways, and a power of undergoing all things; 13 Being gentle to one another and having forgiveness for one another, if anyone has done wrong to his brother, even as the Lord had forgiveness for you: 14 And more than all, have love; the only way in which you may be completely joined together.”
Colossians 3:13 COMMENTARY BY ALBERT BARNES if another one has given us just occasion of complaint, we are to forgive him; that is, we are (1) to harbour no malice against him; (2) we are to be ready to do him good as if he had not given us occasion of complaint; (3) we are to be willing to declare that we forgive him when he asks it; and (4) we are always afterwards to treat him as kindly as if he had not injured us--- a God treats us when he forgives us.
Colossians 3:13 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE No man should for a moment harbour ill will in his heart to any; but the offended party is not called actually to forgive, till the offender, with sorrow, acknowledges his fault. He should be ready to forgive, and while he is so, he can neither feel hatred nor malice towards the offender; but, as Christ does not forgive us till with penitent hearts we return unto him, acknowledging our offences, so those who have trespassed against their neighbour are not to expect any act of forgiveness from the person they have injured, till they acknowledge the offence.

Friday – Further Study
Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 3, pp. 539-540 – “Our lives should be consecrated to the good and happiness of others, as was our Saviour’s. We should be self-forgetful, ever looking out for opportunities, even in little things, to show gratitude for the favors we have received of others, and watching for opportunities to cheer others and lighten and relieve their sorrows and burdens by acts of tender kindness and little deeds of love. These thoughtful courtesies, that, commencing in our families, extend outside the family circle, help make up the sum of life’s happiness; and the neglect of these little things makes up the sum of life’s bitterness and sorrow.”

JAMES423

THESE are 3 different ways of kindness just like
you have 3 different types of joy

very interesting

dgrimmm60

Glad you noticed.

What is kindness? How does it compare to caring?

Can one care for others and not be kind?

Can one be kind and not caring?