In a recent poll, participants in the United Kingdom were asked a simple question: “How can you tell if someone is a Christian?”
You couldn’t be blamed if you guessed that participants would identify a practice like daily Bible reading or weekly church attendance or praying on a regular basis. But none of these topped the list. Based on the old devotional song we used to sing when I was growing up, I thought of the line, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.” But that wasn’t the top answer either.
Instead, participants identified kindness as the tell-tale sign, the observable fruit of a life committed to Jesus.
If you want to know who the Christians are, according to the poll participants, look for kindness.
The word “kindness” is one of the most important words in the Scriptures. In Hebrew, the word is hesed, a rich word meaning “to be merciful, to be loving, to be kind.” It is the sort of loving kindness usually reserved for your closest friends and family. It usually presupposes the existence of a relationship between the parties involved. However, in the event that no previous relationship exists, the one exercising hesed has chosen to treat the recipient as if such a relationship did exist.
In simple terms, kindness is treating someone like family, even if they’re a stranger.
One of the classic examples of such kindness is Rahab, the Canaanite prostitute who harbors Jewish spies in Jericho in Joshua 2. Even though the king of her city-state demands that she turn them over, Rahab persists in demonstrating radical hesed to these enemies of the state. She protects them, even lies for them, aiding and abetting them by smuggling them out her window to safety. Before they leave, however, she extracts a promise from them, asking the Hebrew spies to show kindness to her family when they return to take the city.
Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you…
Joshua 2:12
It might have been tempting for Rahab to simply view these Jewish “outsiders” as undeserving of her kindness. But instead, she risks much for their sake. Kindness is indeed a risk, but it is a risk worth taking.
And the Hebrew spies agree to her terms. Because kindness begets kindness. Rahab’s acts of kindness turns would-be enemies into friends and deliverers.
Is it possible that kindness could hold the same sort of transformative power today?
Could it be that what we need in our age of division and anger is the sort of kindness Rahab demonstrated to these spies: a risky, courageous sort of kindness?
What are you willing to risk in the name of kindness?
When we see what God did with one act of kindness from this Canaanite prostitute, does this ignite our imagination?
How might God use one act of kindness from you this week?
Imagine what would happen if you and I committed to demonstrating this same sort of courageous kindness in the days to come!
Kindness is a risk, but it’s a risk worth taking.
already & not yet 