Filled with Kindness
Written by Sarah Ann E.

 

Are we known for being kind? I am sure that all of us are saying to ourselves, “Oh, ouch.” Every one of us could improve on our kindness towards others, especially our siblings if we are still living at home. We need to nail it down now, before we get married. Can you just imagine how much kindness we would need in dealing with 4 munchkins running around our legs, pulling us in all four directions?!!!!! I baby-sit for a family of three and I know that I have to remind myself continually to speak softly and to be kind and gentle. It is hard to always be kind to others. Our sinful fleshly nature wants to be selfish and not to be tender to others. As ladies, we have a tendency to have a short span of endurance, and then people are getting on our nerves and making us mad.

What ladies in the Bible come to your mind when you think of kindness? Three ladies come to my mind. They are Ruth, Esther, and Tabitha (or Dorcas). These three ladies showed self-sacrificial kindness. Let us look at each of these ladies individually.

Ruth, the Moabitess, denied her comforts and pleasures to return with Naomi back to Bethlehem. (Read the whole story in the book of Ruth.) Naomi urged Ruth to return to her home that she may find another husband. In Ruth 1:14 “Ruth clung to [Naomi].” Then Ruth said to Naomi, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me” (Ruth 1:16-17).  From these verses, we see other things that Ruth is leaving to follow Naomi. She is leaving her home, her people, and her gods. Ruth had a self-sacrificial heart. When she chose to cling to Naomi, she was also giving up the prospect of marry again. “But Naomi said, ‘Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons, would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is harder for me than you, for the hand of the Lord has gone forth against me” (Ruth 1:11-13). We, as single ladies, do not like to think of giving up the possibility to be married to a wonderful husband. Can you just imagine what kindness Ruth was showing to Naomi by sacrificing that desire? Are we willing to follow our Lord in serving others with kindness, even if we have to give up that desire to the Lord?

Esther was also another example of being self-sacrificial. Mordecai informed Esther that Haman made a decree, which was sealed with the king’s signet ring, issuing all the Jews to be killed on a certain day. Mordecai admonished Esther “to go in to the king to implore his favor and to plead with him for her people” (Esther 4:8). When Esther replied with fear for her life, Mordecai told her, “Who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?” Esther was willing to step out, after prayer and fasting, to approach the king on behalf of her people. She was willing to risk her life because the lives of her people were at risk. All the king had to do was not to hold out his scepter to her and she would be killed. Yet, the king was kind and held his scepter to her. She was then able to save her people from death. Is that not kindness—to risk your own life to save others?

Tabitha was a servant to others. She is known in scripture for “abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did” (Acts 9:36). How would you like this to be one of the only things known about you many years down the road? When she died, “the widows stood besides [Peter], weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas made while she was with them.” This woman was known for her good deeds of kindness.

These are three great examples of kind woman, who we can use as role models. A woman of kindness is one who does not speak in harsh words that will hurt her hearers. She speaks in gentle tones and with wisdom. Her speech is also edifying and builds up others, not tares them down or hurts them. Her actions are kind also. She sacrifices her personal pleasures to please others. She may even have to risk her life to save loved ones lives. She will even do things that are not convenient for her to help others along her way. She also desires to meet other’s needs, both physically and spiritually, as best she can.

Let us take a look within ourselves. How can we improve in our kindness to others? There has to be some way that we can improve, because as human beings we are far from perfect. Can we have more kindness in our speech, such as our tone of voice or just learning to think before we speak? Do we need to be kinder by our actions and take time out of our schedule, busy or not, to help or encourage others? Let us make sure that we are checking our words and actions. We do not want to be hurting others, for we are also hurting our loving Lord. Let us be virtuous ladies of kindness.