Devotions on Kindness by Steven Curtis Chapmanနမူနာ

Day 1

A couple of years ago my wife’s sister’s husband passed away after a brief but fierce battle with cancerous brain tumors. He was a great man who had just recently retired from his job as a backhoe operator for the gas company. He and I had had many conversations about faith, fatherhood, and life in general.

He had become a Christian as an adult and while his faith may’ve seemed simple, it was very deep and sincere, and I was encouraged by his love for Jesus and his commitment to his family and his church. Although he was a relatively quiet guy, when he spoke, he usually had something meaningful and thoughtful to say. He was a great Euchre player (a card game for those who don’t know), and since I was not a very good Euchre player, I was usually trying to get on his team!

At Barry’s funeral, I experienced something that moved me deeply as one after another, his co-workers stood up to say a few words about him. You could tell that these were not men, for the most part, who would be quick to stand and speak in public, but their desire to honor their friend compelled them. What moved me the most was the fact that each of these men used the same word to describe how Barry had impacted their lives...the word was “kindness”. You could tell from their stories laced with laughter and tears, that it was his kindness that had marked their lives. Barry had changed the world with kindness...and knowing him as I did, I knew it was the kindness of Jesus and his understanding of God’s grace and love for him that made him the man he was.

His life showed the evidence that he understood the greatest commandment that Jesus gave us in Matthew 22...to love God with all our heart and soul and mind...and to love others as yourself. I’ve always been challenged by the verse in Galatians 5:6 that “boils it all down” to this one thing...faith expressing itself through love...not through our arguments or explanations or defensiveness, but through love...that’s the only thing that counts. And when our faith expresses itself through the love and the kindness shown in the way we live, work and even play...that’s a faith that will change the world.