God’s Kindness
Romans 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realise that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
You’ve probably heard that saying, you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. And it’s true.
If you want to get someone heading in the right direction and you encourage and bless them, more often than not, they’ll respond positively. Kindness is a great motivator. It mostly elicits a good response, the right response from people.
Okay, we all need discipling from time to time. Our parents, if they were good parents, did that for us when we were young. Sometimes, God does that for us now. As a good Father, He disciplines those whom He loves from time to time. That’s just the way it goes.
But when it comes to the balance between encouragement and discipline, the eighty/twenty rule seems to be a pretty good measure. Eighty percent encouragement and blessing, twenty percent discipline is probably not such a bad mix.
If we’re going to try to convince someone to change their mind about something, or to change their behaviour, then most of the time, we’ll get a much better result if we bless them with kindness, rather than berating them in anger.
It’s just human nature. It makes sense. Well, actually, it’s more than that. The idea goes right back to God. The reason that He’s kind isn’t just because it’s in His nature. Of course it is very much in his nature. God isn’t just loving … He is love. It’s who He is.
But let’s face it, He can also be an angry God. Very much so. Yet His instinct, His very nature, is to lead first with love and with kindness in His relationship with us. And there’s a reason for that. He has a very clear purpose in approaching us in that way:
Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realise that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2:4)
God is looking for a response from you and me, to His kindness, His forbearance and His patience. His kindness is meant to lead us to a turning point – turning away from our sin, and back to Him.
And when we don’t respond to the riches of His kindness in that way, what we’re doing is despising it; despising Him. Think about it, when we don’t turn away from our sin and back to Him in response to what Jesus did for us on that Cross, we’re actually despising God.
And when we do that, this is how He ultimately responds:
Far be it from me; for those who honour me I will honour, and those who despise me shall be treated with contempt. (1 Samuel 2:30b)
God’s kindness is meant to lead us to repentance. The alternative isn’t worth thinking about.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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