Pursuing God with Gene Appel Gene Appel

Our acts of kindness help the seeds of the Gospel take root. It is God’s kindness towards us that leads to repentance. What amazing graciousness and kindness our Heavenly Father has extended to so many of us....who don’t even deserve it. And now that we’re followers of Jesus, doesn’t He continue to treat us so much better than we deserve? Let’s allow our kindness to flow out of us, treating others as better than they deserve.

Jesus taught that kindness is expressed when we go above and beyond what is required of us. Kindness always costs us something. There’s always a price tag.

Here’s how the Holy Spirit works in us - When we are intentional about following in the footsteps of Jesus, the Holy Spirit nudges us to demonstrate God-like kindness to people in our lives. He nudges us to respond spontaneously. The doors of opportunity to show kindness don’t stay open indefinitely. So like David, you’ve got to seize the moment.

As we learned yesterday, out of the blue David has this burst of sensitivity and says, “Is there anyone still left in Jonathan’s family that I can show kindness to?” Ask the Lord to help you to be more sensitive to the needs around you…then look for ways to perform some meaningful acts of kindness to lift people up.

As we look deeply into the life of King David, we find a tough guy who was also remarkably kind. He showed mercy and grace to a crippled man who was a descendent of Saul, the man who wanted to kill him!

I’ll tell you something we tend to forget...you and I will never have to be more patient with anybody else than God has already been with us. The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Tim. 1:16, “That is why God had mercy on me, so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of His great patience with even the worst sinners.” Pray this prayer: “Help me to be patient with others like you have been patient with me.”