“If
you see your brother standing by the road, with a heavy load from the seeds he
sowed; and if you see your sister falling by the way, just stop and say, ‘You're
going the wrong way.’ You've got to try a little kindness, yes, show a little
kindness. Shine your light for everyone to see.”
This was the first stanza of a song Glen Campbell released in 1970 called "Try a Little Kindness”. “Be Kind” is a catch phrase we see everywhere these days—on billboards, in people’s yards, posted in the halls at schools, etc. However, Campbell’s idea of kindness differs from what is considered “kind” today.
Glen Campbell felt it was kind to help someone find the right path in life. Today, kindness is seen as allowing everyone to go their own way, without caution or correction, even if we know that path leads to destruction. How is that kind?
God makes it clear that we are to love people enough to alert them when they are “going the wrong way”. Cain asked, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” According to God, we are! Ezekiel 3:18 says, “Suppose I tell you that sinful people will surely die, but you don’t warn them or speak out so that they can change their wicked ways in order to save their lives. Then these wicked people will die because of their sin, but I will hold you responsible for their deaths.”
We cannot whitewash or ignore God’s Word to make people feel better about themselves! Isaiah 5:20 tells us, “How horrible it will be for those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who turn what is bitter into something sweet and what is sweet into something bitter.”
Correction is a component of kindness that is not looked upon favorably by the world. But God says otherwise: “My friends, if someone is caught in any kind of wrongdoing, those of you who are spiritual should set him right; but you must do it in a gentle way.” (Galatians 6:1) 2 Timothy 2:24-25 says, "As the Lord's servant, you must not quarrel. You must be kind toward all, a good and patient teacher, who is gentle as you correct your opponents, for it may be that God will give them the opportunity to repent and come to know the truth.
Shall we try a little of God’s kindness in this crazy world?
Be encouraged!
