In the third grade, Mrs. Virginia Patterson dared to invite her entire Sunday School class to her home for hot dogs and hamburgers. We played games, had a great time—and I’ve never forgotten that kindness.
Struggling to complete my Awana Scripture memory books, I was blessed with a leader named Leroy Arrasmith. He came over almost every week for a year to help me get those verses memorized. How could you forget that kindness?
Just before computers became popular, I’d developed a passion for writing. When my friend, Ron Taylor, found out, he gave me his electric typewriter—a beautiful and expensive machine. Unthinkable!
When our little girl, Lynnette, wanted to visit me at work (in an era when this was frowned upon), she scrawled a note in her best handwriting to my boss, the Vice President of Moody Radio. Bob Neff immediately took little Lynnette’s note and printed his reply: “Yes, Lynnette. Please come and visit!” How kind.
But there’s a timeless dimension to kindness that it is easy to overlook: kindness lasts forever. In Matthew 10:42, Jesus tells the crowd, “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”
A reward that cannot be lost—for merely giving a cup of cold water? That's what Jesus says. Makes you wonder why we're often so stingy with our kindness.
I can think of a thousand kindnesses shown me by my wife, Diana. And even if life hasn’t turned out quite the way you’d hoped, I bet you’re the recipient of more kindness than you know, too.
But if kindness has a dark side, it's this: it's a limited-time deal. You and I have only what the Bible calls a "mere handbreadth" of space to give it away. In Psalms 39:4, David prays, “O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!”
I’m neither a psychologist nor a sociologist. But it sure seems to me our country could use a little kindness. Kindness in our politics. Kindness in our COVID conversations. Kindness in our churches!
We are drowning in the bile of our bitter arguments—Christians, too! But imagine the statement you could make—we could make—if we showed kindness.
It lasts forever, you know. But our time to share it doesn’t.