A Kind Word

As seen in HEARTbeat and the Village Voice

“A Kind Word”

Kind words don’t come easy sometimes, do they?  Thinking back, there are several instances when kind words didn’t come at all!  I must ask, how did you feel when after the encounter was over and you undoubtedly were running it over and over in your mind?  Most of the time we would agree we said words that we really didn’t need to or shouldn’t have said.  The words left a bad taste in our mouth and the damage they have done can be almost irreparable.

So, how do we come up with kind words?  When we are confronted with a situation not of our making and someone is really testing our resolve to remain calm and peaceful, it truly is hard to say something kind when we are under attack.  Escalation is never a good approach to a conflict and more times than not can lead to a negative outcome.  So, just how can we deliver kind words in the face of an adversary?

Jesus spoke kindness everywhere He went.  Now, some of you might say, “Jesus got angry and said some things that weren’t kind!”  I would have to agree with you.  However, is your anger coming from a place inside of you that is holy or is it coming from a self-serving location?  Jesus exhibited anger, but it was a “righteous anger.”  Sure, He turned over the tables in the outer courts in the synagogue.  People were profiting in a shady way by changing foreign currency to that acceptable by the local temple.  People were selling doves and other small items to be presented to the priests in accordance with the law.  People had turned the law into a business, and the ruling religious elite promoted it!  Jesus defended His Heavenly Father’s house.  He wanted to keep it holy.

Jesus was questioned by the Pharisees about eating foods that, according to them, would defile a person.  Matthew 15:10-11 says, “Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen and understand.  What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.’”  Jesus was referring to food, but can this also refer to other things, like TV programs, books, magazines, and the internet?  It most surely can.  We must guard our minds and hearts as if they are the outer courts of the tabernacle – a tabernacle which has in its inner courts the Holy of Holies!

When we are careful what we put into our hearts and minds, we become more like Jesus, especially when we put God’s Word into our hearts and minds.  1 Corinthians 2:15-16 says, “The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’  But we have the mind of Christ.”

When we make the daily effort to have the mind of Christ, even though in reality we will never get there, we will find kind words will flow from our heart and mind to those who really need them and to those who didn’t expect them.  Be a small light today, and bring warmth to someone whose heart may be a little cold.