I was reading a book this morning, a Chinese cultivation novel, where a character was pondering the meaning of kindness. In this book, the character was pondering kindness in order to advance his station in life, and he began to do random acts of kindness in order to understand it better. But he noticed that the more kind things he did for people, the less and less benefit he was able to receive from it as far as growing, his understanding was concerned, and the character had to spend time figuring out why this was, as it was hindering his personal growth. As the reader, I could easily see the problem— kindness when done with the express intent of getting something from the person you are helping, even if that thing you are receiving is only a better understanding of kindness itself, it’s not very altruistic at all, and is still just another version of giving to get. True kindness does not expect to receding anything in return—the price of kindness is nothing.
As I continued reading this book, the character figured out what I said above in the subsequent chapter, and began to understand kindness as a concept better. Which then got me pondering about kindness.
Everyone has something about God’s nature that moves them more than other aspects of his. For my two best friends, one of them is most moved by His goodness, and the other is most moved by His love. But the primary attribute of God that moves my heart is His kindness— so I took this opportunity to begin to really think about His kindness and what it is about it that touches me so deeply.
And that is where I began to think about the price of kindness. One truly cannot put a price on kindness because it is done without expecting anything in return. Which is kind of a strange thing because it makes kindness without cost, or priceless in all senses of the word, and yet it costs the giver everything to be able to give it, making it also quite costly.
Then I began to think about what it costs God to be kind to us. And why he would choose to be kind to us. What could somebody possibly gain in choosing to be kind to those who both can’t repay it and won’t repay it? And the truth is, there isn’t any gain. Love chooses to act in kindness with full disregard for personal gain, and that is what makes it so remarkable. Our Heavenly Father doesn’t extend kindness toward us because He’s seeking to get something from us. He gives us his kindness as a free gift simply because that’s what Love does. That’s who Love is.
First Corinthians 13 tells us that love is kind. And it sounds so simple to say, but in practice, it means that Love is quite costly. Because in giving kindness, it costs the giver everything, including the right to have rights regarding the act of kindness. And that may sound strange to say, but if we think about it, it is true. True kindness does something without an expectation in return. Which also means that the giver lays no claim upon the act itself or upon any benefits from its outcome. As a result, it is also not self-seeking— which suggests the kindness is really just one of the many manifestations of love. And love, too, is both costly and without price.
My prayer for you today is that you would have an encounter with God’s kindness—because His kindness is without limit and it is poured out for you personally to experience this aspect of His great love toward you.
