Kindness

Tender regard the Spirit grows for the person in front of you - not polite distance or performance niceness.

Key Concept

• Be kind and tender-hearted - soft strength toward the person in front, not performance niceness for an audience.

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.Ephesians 4:32 NASB1995

• Mercy is the garden echo: compassion on the guilty, act for the hurt person, release the debt you are counting because the King cleared yours.
• Love Your Neighbor and The Golden Rule turn kindness outward - tender regard for the person in front, not performance niceness for an audience.
• Kindness at home counts - not only polite distance at the office.

Level 1 - Recognize

Kindness is gentle care for the real person in front of you - not acting polite just to look good to bystanders.

Level 2 - Explain

Fruits of the Spirit names kindness beside goodness - soft strength toward actual people, like a hand on a shoulder, not a generic nice-guy pose.

Level 3 - Use

Move your chair toward the parent you would rather avoid and ask how his kid's ankle is healing - kindness meets the person, not the audience.

Level 4 - Connect

Generic niceness performs for observers; kindness meets the person with soft strength - audience credit is the wrong scoreboard.

Level 5 - Create

Extend kindness with Goodness in Fruits of the Spirit - turn tender regard outward through Love Your Neighbor and The Golden Rule.

Examples

• The parent I would rather avoid sits on my side every game - glad kindness fruit moved my chair over and asked how his kid's ankle was healing.
• I was polite in the office and sharp with my family at dinner - Galatians kindness is tender regard at home too, not performance for an audience.

Note Relationships