“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Colossians 3:12
I was driving around town the other day listening to the local Christian radio station and I heard the DJ pray, “Lord, I pray we show love today in an extraordinary way…”
That got me thinking! (My husband always says that’s dangerous!) How do I go about showing extraordinary love? Do I buy someone a car? Do I give them a huge amount of money? I don’t have the resources to do that, and so I put the thought of showing any kind of love out of my mind.
And I think we are all guilty of that to a greater or lesser degree. We aren’t able to be extravagant, so we settle for nothing. But the picture described in Colossians is a person who walks in compassion, kindness and gentleness at all times. Doesn’t that mean my every action and word should reflect Jesus? So in the simple things, the small gestures I should reflect the love of God.
There is nothing extraordinary in having my teen mow the neighbour’s grass because she is riddled with arthritis and can’t push a mower any longer, there is nothing extraordinary in making sure that another nieghbour down the street has food for the kids because her husband has had a bad month financially as a contractor.
I don’t need to shy away from those acts because they are ordinary. So often we think we have to do something so exceptional, and so remarkable to show our compassion. Nothing can be further from the truth, it is those small acts of kindness that mean more to the recipients than you or I can ever know.
We are often deceived because we think unless we can give extravagantly (and by that I mean in terms of money) then we can do nothing. Nothing can be further from the truth — it is those small acts of kindness that will draw people to Jesus.
And more people have been won to the kingdom of God through kindness than any other way. So the next time you see someone in your neighbourhood struggling, step in and do what you can to help, you might be the only light they see.
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