What is the ultimate act of kindness? Is it forgiving a person who has wronged you? Is it volunteering your time? Is it standing up for someone who is being bullied? Is it giving your life for your country? In this last post in the Kindness Journal – the ultimate kindness is both something given to us and something we give to others. The ultimate kindness was given to us by Jesus Christ when He died on the cross, taking the sins of all humanity, past, present and future on His shoulders. Jesus became the ultimate sacrificial lamb for all mankind.
God’s Ultimate Kindness
Our Creator, wants to have a personal relationship with each and every one, because He has created each of us individually. However, when sin entered mankind’s existence through Adam and Eve’s disobedience, we became separated from God, because, we were no longer holy. Therefore, God gave Moses the Law that put into place a system of various sacrifices that His people could perform in order to be pure in His presence. These sacrifices were killing a firstborn lamb without blemish, doves, fine flour, etc. The people would bring the sacrifices to the temple and the priests would follow the instruction God gave them on how to prepare each offering. This system stayed in place for unbelieving Jews until the destruction of the temple by Rome in A.D. 70.
However, God no longer requires animal sacrifice to atone for sin because Jesus became the lasting sacrifice. After Jesus was crucified and died, He rose from the grave three days later, beating death once and for all. Now, when we accept Jesus as our Savior, our sins are covered by His blood. In this way, when we come into the presence of the most holy God, He doesn’t see our sins, but Jesus’ sacrifice and purity. We become pure because Jesus has cleansed us from our sins. Jesus’ ultimate kindness was being obedient to God’s plan for our salvation. Even though Jesus knew the excruciating death that waited for Him, He continued toward that goal because only through defeating death, can we come into eternal life with God for all eternity.
Our Ultimate Kindness
Our ultimate act of kindness comes from being obedient to Jesus’ command before He returned to Heaven. Go, therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you… (Matthew 28:19-20a, NASB). When we obey Christ, and tell others that Jesus is the Messiah, we are not only enacting worship towards God, but also showing unbelievers who Christ really is.
What kinder way to show love to others than to explain how much the God of the Universe loves them. He loves them so much that His Son agreed to be crucified in order to conquer death once and for all. When they receive this incredible gift of eternal life from Jesus, they will never be alone on this earth, and will live forever with God. Isn’t spreading the Gospel the ultimate act of kindness?
It is so sad that the number of people who do not know the name of Jesus here in America is growing. According to Jones (2021), Only 47% of American adults attend church. This seems to be in correlation with the number of people who now are saying they don’t have a religious preference. And this number is not just considering those who align with Christianity, but includes other religions as well. If adults are not attending church, then neither are their children. This means the number of people who are trying to navigate life without a Savior will continue to decline.
Christians need to stop being complacent in spreading the Gospel. We need to broaden our relationships with others to include the unchurched because they need a Savior. Too often, Christians just hang with other Christians and don’t take the time to develop a relationship with an unchurched person. Keeping ourselves insular in our Christian circle of friends is not what Jesus told us to do. He told us to go and make disciples of all nations, this includes our home nation, which we have let slide.
Not telling others of the Gospel is condemning them to eternal hell. Why would we do that? Where is our love for others? Our job is to tell all we come in contact with that Jesus has died for our sins, and when we accept Him as our Savior, we will live in eternity with Him. We have this treasure that is more valuable than the rarest metal on earth and we are keeping it to ourselves! This is not kindness!
What we do need to remember when telling others about God’s love for them is that it is not our job to get a person to accept Jesus as Messiah. It is only our job to spread the Word and live lives that exude God’s love for others. A person’s heart transformation can only come about through God’s power. Our job is to be the living road map to God – totally in love. When we follow Jesus’ command and make disciples of those we come in contact with during our everyday lives, then we are practicing the ultimate kindness.
Resources:
Jones, J. March 29, 2021. U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time. Retrieved on April 20, 2022 from https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx
Photo Credit: Lighthouse Ministries Hong Kong, lighthouseministries.hk/ctc-sermons/go-tell-your-hope-of-the-good-news/
