Several years ago there was a song by Leslie Phillips called Your Kindness. The chorus said, “It’s Your kindness that leads us to repentance, oh Lord. Knowing that You love us no matter what we do. Makes us want to love You, too.” I often think about the words to that song because, in my own life experience, I’ve found them to be so true of God. He is infinitely more kind toward us than we could ever imagine Him to be. He exceeds our expectations each and every time we come to Him. When we expect the very worst, it’s His kindness and forgiveness instead that floods peace into our hearts.
When I think about God as Heavenly Father, I think also about how He relates to us (on a much larger scale) in much the same way that I relate to my own children. My two kids are grown now, but when they were teenagers they made some very bad decisions that really challenged me as a parent. If you’ve ever had teenagers, use your imagination! So, now that they’re grown, should I be angry with them? Should I continue to remind them of the bad decisions they made? No! I’ve forgiven them, and believe me I made my own mistakes in parenting back then. No, now we’re able to talk about the hard times and we’ve forgiven one another and moved on to a more adult relationship. Understanding has been gained and lessons learned . . . we’ve chosen kindness and forgiveness over anger and bitterness. This is God’s way (the fruit of His Spirit) and His way changes everything for our good. Never underestimate the power of kindness.
Titus 3 says: “When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.”