There Has To Be Balance

Kindness and Goodness...Why there has to be a balance.

"Without kindness, goodness becomes harsh and self-righteous. Without goodness, kindness becomes indulgent tolerance."

Ever thought of it that way?

Kindness is a tender heart and a nurturing spirit.

Goodness is an active good. The purpose of goodness is to do or bring that which is most beneficial, whether or not it is that which is most popular.

Kindness provides safeguard for misguided goodness.

If God puts it to us to confront someone it had better be done in the Spirit devoid of self and full of kindness. It had better be the prompting of the Holy Spirit and not of our own prideful heart.

Once before in these lessons by Beth Moore we were confronted with a similar idea when we talked about peace.

There's a difference between a peacemaker and a peacekeeper. We have to be careful not to be deceived into thinking we are a good peacekeeper if we attempt to keep peace at any cost, because that only brings a false peace if it only covers up or keeps a problem at bay. We have to trust in the Lord and pray for wisdom and strength to face turmoil sometimes to bring real peace.

We also have to be willing to be spirit filled to put goodness to our kindness so we can be effective when the Lord call us to be used of Him in this way.

This is a lesson I struggle with. I want to keep peace. I want to be kind. I want everyone to be happy. But, covering up and ignoring things doesn't make that happen. It really takes listening to the Holy Spirit and obeying Him, doing things in His time and His way (Oh! Here is patience popping up too!). (Of course, thank you Sarah E., it's all one fruit so it should intertwine!)

God calls us to do good works for Him. That's why He saves us (not how He saves us -- our good works don't save us and don't come before salvation, they come after, when we allow the Holy Spirit to fill us and work through us). And the only way we can do good works in Him is if we let His kindness guide us.

If we feel empty, it's because of too much inward looking and not enough outward looking, and doing. Doing good often is outside of our comfort zone. We have to be stretched outside of ourselves to do many things God has planned for us.