The Kindness of Love

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant.

—1 Corinthians 13:4

The apostle Paul tells us that love is kind. That word translated kind in 1 Corinthians 13:4 means to do something useful for those who harm you. You see, it’s one thing to endure mistreatment by others, but real love goes the next step. It actually does something good for those who hurt us. To be kind means to do something practical, to give people what they need rather than what they deserve.

Titus 3:4-6 describes what kindness is: “When the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” God didn’t give us what we deserved. If he had given us what we deserved, He would have destroyed us and we would have spent eternity in hell. But instead, the kindness of God our Savior meant that God gave us, not what we deserve but what we needed. We needed a Savior, so God sent a Savior. It was a great sacrifice for Him, but He was filled with kindness toward us, wanting to do something useful for us.

The Bible says that the test of whether or not we truly belong to Christ is the love we have for one another. Are you kind to people in your life, giving them what they need and not what they deserve?

How do you treat those in your home and in your church? Do you blow up at them constantly? Are you always trying to get from them? When others hurt you, wrong you, betray you, do you give them what they need rather than what they deserve? How we treat other people is a great indication of whether we really know what it means to love.

You’re going to be mistreated by people; you’re going to be wronged by people; you’re just going to be irritated with people. But true love, the Christ-honoring kind of love, looks out for the needs of others rather than our own needs.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “What the Church Needs Now,” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2012

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.