Love Kindness

Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. ~Matthew 10:40

I knew that Love Kindness by Barr H. Corey would be a great book within the first chapter. Kindness is not just random acts of kindness or loving those who love you - it's a lifestyle that brings Christ's love to the world.

"The way of kindness is not just having right theology; it's being the right kind of people. It's understanding that our lives as Jesus' followers mean we have a common humanity with everyone, and therefore there's no need for exceptionalism. We owe all human beings the honor due to them as beings made in the image of God." ~Page 9

"The point of being kind to those with whom we disagree is not to be respected or befriended. That may never happen. Nor is the point of kindness to avoid wither ruffling feathers or feeling awkward, which is cowardly "niceness". The point of kindness is to represent Jesus. Being kind to those with whom we disagree helps bring Christ to the center of the situation. Being kind is how Jesus acts. Kindness is His way. When we walk that way, we reflect and honor Him, and it opens doors for what we say about Him and the gospel." ~Page 54

"We can choose to model kindness and charity across deep differences without sacrificing the claims upon which we stake our lives. That posture will affect how we talk to and treat others. The aspirations of tolerance, humility, and patience do not prevent us from expressing moral judgments or public claims of faith. But they will inform how we express such judgments and faith claims." ~John Inazu

Corey describes how kindness is how we relate to people just as much as what we do for people. It may be easier to buy a stranger behind us in line a coffee than it is to really sit down and listen to someone's opposing views or be there for someone during a difficult time. It's about not having to be right but rather to be kind. 

"When the apostle Paul writes to the church in 2 Corinthians 2:16 about how we need to be the aroma of Christ, he says that some will sense our aroma as the "smell of death". We are seeing this around the world today as more Christians are being persecuted and killed than ever before. Jesus never said we would be received. He actually said that often we will be rejected. When Jesus sent out the Twelve he gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and heal them from sickness and disease. As he sent them, he gave them a caution because he knew there would be many wolves set on destroying them. "I am sending you out like sheep among the wolves," Jesus warned his closest followers, "Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." (Matthew 10:16)
    Kindness means loving our enemies in a gentle, dove-like way. Kindness, however, is not naive. Living the way of kindness means that we accept that we will be rejected. But we must be also be aware that there are not only those who will ignore us but also those whose intent is to crush us. Discernment and wisdom are components of kindness.
    Kindness means we won't back down on speaking out against the Satan-smelling evil in the world. hatred, racism, violence, exploitation, and greed all smell like the devil. We need to be concerned about and combat the spirit of this age that is rampant. We need to stay strong in our faith and fear not, despite those who are committed to upending the message of the gospel and who refuse to engage in gracious conversations. We need to be aware of the growing nihilism in our society, the rejection of principals based on moral reasoning and biblical truths, leading to a belief that life is meaningless. We need to strengthen our resolve against the truthless and graceless claims of radical religious types globally who would rather choose violence than collaborate toward peace. We need to face these movements as the people of God with steadfastness through the power of the Holy Spirit." ~Page 210-211

"Living to be received and living to be receivable are quite different. Kindness is living to be receivable, opening ourselves to others whether they receive or not. Living to be received focuses on how others respond to us. This is beyond our control." ~Page 174

Corey often talks about a firm center and soft edges. We can have strong convictions without being hard-hearted. 

He also goes on to say that if we proclaim to be Christians, then the world will look at us and judge us more harshly for our failings. Those who despise Christians will want us to fail, will point out all our shortcomings. While Christians are only human, sinners like everyone else in the world, we do need to try to do our best at all times and kindness is the way. Respond in kindness to those people - put aside our pride and clothe ourselves in humility so that Christ can shine through us. Luke 6:35 tells us "Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked."

No one ever said that kindness would be easy. 

I highly recommend this book to everyone - I marked so many pages and will be reading it again and again as a reminder to myself. I learned so much from my little Jacob, who was the epitome of kindness, and I want to carry that kindness in my heart and show it to others. Not always easy, but so, so important. As Corey states: are we to bring all the world to Christ or is our job to bring Christ to all the world? 

This book was given to me by Tyndale Publishing in exchange for my honest review.   
 

I Like Giving

I knew I had to read I Like Giving by Brad Formsma when I heard about it. The subtitle The Transforming Power of a Generous Life has manifested itself in my own life the past 6 months.

This book is filled with practical ideas as well as inspiring stories. Many areas of the book hit home with me.

Page 191: "I'm convinced the joy comes from being obedient to what God wants."

Page 177: "Often when we see someone in a bad situation, our natural response is to say, "Hey, if you need anything, let me know." Please don't say that. Unknowingly you have put an added burden on the person.

In other words, we must just do, don't ask. Why is it not so easy to do this? One, we may not know how to help exactly (though we can always come up with someway to help) and two, we fear rejection.

Page 50 states: "The key in all these situations is to remember that giving to others is not only about how the receivers respond. Sometimes we need to give more than other people need to receive."

This book shows several ways in which to give, not only monetary but also time wise or even something as simple as a smile.

The only complaint that I have with the book is the actual title and the title of the chapters and stories. While these were explained in chapter two I feel that neither the title, nor the title/story chapters, really covey a lot of feeling. I Like Giving may get to the heart of the matter but I Like Being Robbed doesn't exactly fit, does it? That aside, this is a great book for changing how we give and how we see life.

I'll leave you with Brad's quote on page 196: "What if the more than 315 million Americans alive today would do something generous for someone else daily, weekly, or even monthly. How powerful could that be?"

Disclaimer: This book was given to me by Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.

When Necessary...

In the past three years my relationship with God has grown by leaps and bounds.

Looking back at my early blog posts I realize that it was either my immaturity, or immature faith, but I was a self-righteous person. MY opinions were the right ones. No wonder the Christian faith often gets a bad rap. I cringe reading through some of my previous posts.

It's not that my opinions have changed that much, per se, but rather that I realize I don't need to preach my opinions to others. I am not to judge or dictate how others are to live. I heard a quote recently that went something like "If you met yourself, you probably wouldn't like the person." It gave me pause, but it is so true. I've known people before that I just couldn't get along with and the fact is that their bad traits were some of my bad traits and I didn't like them because of it.

I find now that the closer I am to God, the less I have to talk of Him. I hope that He shines from my actions and my life.  I hope that He uses me as His instrument to help, give hope to, encourage others. None of that involves preaching or judging.  

I'm not anywhere close to where I want to be yet, spiritually, but I'm learning and growing. And that's good enough for me. 

Random Acts of Kindness

On this one month anniversary since Jacob's passing I wanted to remind everyone of the Random Acts of Kindness that we (and the world!) are doing in Jacob's honor. This news clip tells all about it.

Jacob's Facebook page profiles what random acts people do, as well as random people who never heard about Jacob who had a random act done for them. Some recent stories are:

*A few hours ago I was in line to buy groceries when the lady in front of me turned around and handed me a card... I glanced at it, thinking it was a coupon she couldn't use or something, then looked up to see the cashier was ringing up my groceries on her tab... she then told me she was paying for my groceries! I was stunned I teared up a few times and hugged her. I could hardly think or move, we both were tearing up and everyone around was watching. I was so flustered I didn't even shut my van door all the way before leaving the parking lot! This was so unbelievably moving for me, I have three children and we have had a very hard past couple of years. I am battling some fierce depression so this was overwhelming for me.... THANK YOU for reminding me of the good in the world. I could never imagine losing a child and he must have had a huge heart.... please know that today Jacob has impacted me and my family in a big way. I cannot wait to pass it on.

*Just was treated to breakfast for myself and son at bagel store, courtesy of Jacob. Brought tears to my eyes....I actually posted the card on facebook, told my small story of this am, and asked my friends to also pass on. God bless.
Thank you for making me stop and think about life.

*Yesterday I was the recipient of a random act of kindness in Jacob's honor. It was the 19 year anniversary of my husbands diagnosis of sarcoma. And the one week anniversary of my diagnosis of breast cancer. I wanted to update my... family photos as the last time we did them we only had two kids. We now have four! They range in ages from 11 to 1. A girlfriend of mine found us a photographer who was willing to do them on short notice. Once the photos were done I tried to pay her. She proceeded to tell me about Jacob's ladder and how she needed to do this for me. Hesitantly, I graciously accepted. I realize this is going to be a long, difficult struggle for me, but I will pay it forward. Someday, somehow, I will in honor of Jacob. Thank you for sharing your story.

*So I had to share - I received the cards, I have been randomly using then, dining, grocery stores, just wherever I feel lead to use them, carrying groceries or paying, whatever just doing, last night I ran to the pharmacy to get a few things for my son, as I approached to pay the rung everything up and handed me one of the cards I gave and told me the medicine was paid for.

These are just some of the many stories. It makes my heart happy to know that people are being kind in honor of Jacob. He was such a giving boy and I know that he is smiling down on us as we do these acts. Because, these acts aren't just honoring him, but also our selves and the people around us and especially, God. 


          Acts 20:35    
In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”