In light of "Kindness Week" recently, this is a good addition for a minute meditation.
A doctor once said, "One of the best remedies in the world is available without prescription. It's called the milk of human kindness."
From the condition of the world around us, it would seem that the cow that delivers the milk of human kindness is running dry.
Human kindness appears to be as scarce as dinosaur tracks. But there is another kind of kindness that is even more rare, and that is godly kindness.
Jesus tells us that God is "kind to the unthankful and to the evil," and then tells us, "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful."
Following this admonition is not easy. We like to be kind to those who are kind to us. We prefer to love the lovely, to do good to those who do good to us. Jesus knows we are like that and reminds us that sinners are also kind to other sinners and love those who love them. Even members of the Mafia love their mothers. We are to be different, and this difference distinguishes the milk of human kindness, which is already too scarce, from the godly kindness which we are to cultivate.
Paul tells us, "Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."
But Paul also includes the less lovable when he says "Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink:" How do we do what we know we are to do but which we find so difficult to do?
Jesus supplies us the answer. Almost in the same breath Jesus says, "Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you and pray for them which despitefully use you." Prayer is the answer. We need to pray for our enemies so that we can "love our enemies." Prayer changes us, and through prayer we can learn to be "kind to the unthankful and to the evil."
This answer isn't something new. We have heard it before. Why is it that we do not do what we have heard we should do, know we should do, but don't want to do? Why in actual practice do few of us literally get down on our knees in prayer to our Heavenly Father and ask Him to bless those we could more easily hate?
Praying for our enemies goes against the grain. It is not part of the prescription of human kindness but it is the very essence of godly kindness.
Paul in his letter to Timothy contrasts bodily exercise with godliness, saying bodily exercise profits little. But there is one type of exercise we need to cultivate: godly exercises in acts of kindness. Our daily exercise routine should include praying for our enemies, looking for ways to show them kindness, and being willing to put ourselves out for those who do not appear to appreciate us.
A doctor who writes us a prescription expects us to follow the directions and take the medication faithfully. If we want to be successful in loving our enemies it is important for us to do our kindness exercises everyday. Let us continually take our daily prescription to develop godly kindness so that we may "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." In this way we show our love for "love suffers long and is kind."
