The Fruit Of Kindness Series

Allen Emery, one of Billy Graham's associates tells of his experience as a boy back in 1937. He

was travelling on a train with his father. One of the porters had a limp and was obviously in pain. When they inquired about it, they learned he had an infected ingrown toenail. After breakfast Allen

came back to his car and noticed the porter coming out of his parents room. He was crying, so Allen

followed him to the men's lounge and sat down beside him. "Are you crying because your toe

hurts?", he asked. "No," he said, " it is because of your daddy. Your daddy could see my toe was in

pain and suggested that I let him lance it and clean it out." The porter explained what his father did,

and he began to cry again. "Did it hurt that much?" Allen asked. "It didn't hurt at all and it feels

fine now," he responded. "Then why are you crying?" Allen asked. Let me finish the story in

Allen's own words. The porter made this reply-

Well, while he was dressing my toe, your daddy asked me if I

loved the Lord Jesus. I told him my mother did but that I did not

believe as she did. Then he told me that Jesus loved me and had

died for me. As I saw your daddy carefully bandaging my foot,

I saw a love that was Jesus' love and I knew I could believe it.

We got down on our knees and we prayed and, now, I know

I am important to Jesus and that He loves me.

With that he started crying again, happy and unashamed.

When his sobs subsided, he earnestly burst out, "you know,

boy, kindness can make you cry." I understood. I also

understood that a living illustration like this can never be

forgotten and the privilege of seeing such events is a

responsibility of life.

One father, by bearing the fruit of kindness, led a man into the kingdom of God, and gave his son

a lesson in love that changed his life forever as well.

Kindness is no wimp among the virtues. The reason we tend to think so is because it is a virtue

that even pagans can manifest in a strong way. Paul, who makes a great deal of the importance of

kindness in the Christian life, recognizes just how kind pagans can be. In Acts 28 when the storm

wrecked the ship, and all were forced to swim for their lives to the island of Malta, we read in verse

2, "The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was

raining and cold." In verse 7 we read, "there was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief

official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and for three days entertained us hospitably." In

verse 10 the story ends with these words, "they honored us in many ways and when we were ready to

sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed."

These pagan people treated Paul and Dr. Luke as kindly as they were ever treated by their

Christian friends, and far more kindly than what they received from some Christians. This kind of

competition has, instead of challenging the Christian to a higher level of kindness, led them to

minimize its importance. It is embarrassing when a non-Christian is more kind than a Christian, and

so to save face the Christian says it is no big deal to be kind. Kindness is just a natural gift of some

personalities, they say, and so, even though it is nice, it is of no credit to anyone, anymore than it is

to have blue eyes. Kindness is just the luck of the draw, and a matter of genetics, and should not be

given much value as a Christian virtue. If my pagan neighbor is kinder than me, it is due to his or

her heritage, and does not make them better than me. With this kind of rationalizing, Christians have

been able to send kindness back to the minor leagues. The only problem is that the New Testament

stresses that kindness is a major league player. It has a contract with God to play on the highest

level, and we can't fire it or push it out of the big leagues.

Paul settled this once and for all when he said in his great love song of I Cor.13, in verse 4, "love

is kind." God-like love is kind. There is no escape from this fact, kindness is a primary virtue and

part of the image of God in man. The fact that this image can still be reflected in non-Christians is

no excuse to minimize it, but rather a reason to recognize that God's people should display it in its