The Kindness of God

“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.”—Titus 3:4-5 (NIV) 

By Danny Saavedra

What does generosity look like? How can we understand what it means to be generous? How do we know if we are living a life of extravagant generosity? Well, as with all good things in life, we need only to look to the Lord. If we want to understand what it means to live a lifestyle of generosity every single day, our best bet is to open the Word of God to see the examples of God; to see the qualities and characteristics that make Him such a generous God. 

Today, we’ll examine the kindness of God. You see, generosity cannot truly exist apart from kindness. They go hand in hand. Oh, we can give a lot and do all sorts of charitable works, but apart from kindness—an indispensable component of love—our acts of charity are empty (1 Corinthians 13:1–3) and selfishly motivated. 

All throughout the Bible, we see it is from a heart of loving kindness and care that generosity can take root in our hearts, because it is from the love and kindness of our Father that everything good and beautiful in this world exists. 

 Consider the story of the woman at the well. In John 4, we see Jesus offering living water to an outcast Samaritan—a class of people the Jews hated. And while His words were most likely surprising, it was the manner in which He, a Jewish man, spoke to her that really caught her off guard and caused her to drop her defenses. It was the unmistakable kindness of our Savior that allowed this woman’s closed-off heart to open and receive the life-giving water Christ alone offers. 

The first thing this woman did after receiving the living water was to go into the town and share it with others. She called everyone, including people she’d been cut off from, to come receive what Jesus was offering.

Another powerful example of kindness is found in Luke 10:25–37. Here, Jesus tells us the Parable of the Good Samaritan. In this story, a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho is attacked, robbed, and left for dead. It’s interesting that Jesus gives no details about the man except: 1) He was left half dead and unconscious, and 2) he was robbed of all he had and stripped naked.

Why are these two things important? Historically, a person could be identified in one of two ways: his clothing and the way he spoke. Without clothing or the ability to speak, the man was basically unidentifiable by the three people who encountered him. 

So, this man could have been anyone. He could have been a king or a peasant. No one knew. And in this we learn that kindness, true godly kindness, means to show love and care for people no matter who they are, what they’ve done, or where they’re from. It means putting others first, treating them as we hope to be treated, and going the extra mile for people, even if they don’t deserve it (Matthew 5:41). 

So, how do we exhibit this type of kindness in our own lives? Read the Parable of the Good Samaritan tonight for homework. Use this amazing example given to us by Jesus as a baseline for how to exhibit the kindness of God to the people around you—your neighbors. And as you go about your week, ask yourself, “Who can I be a neighbor to?” instead of “Who is my neighbor?”