With countless people worldwide turned away from the Lord, love and all the ways in which love is meant to be expressed including in kindness seem to be at a tragic and perhaps unprecedented low. With a seeming scarcity of kindness, I would imagine people likely hunger and thirst for love – and kindness. And for those of us like myself with personal histories of rejection, abandonment, abuse, hurt, heartache, tragedies, and brokenness, we may crave kindness and love even more so. But no matter the state of this world, no matter our personal stories, no matter our circumstances and situations, all humans were created to be loved by God, to love Him, and to love others. So it goes without saying we naturally desire kindness and love. And so it is this message is a warning about kindness.
Sometimes the devil uses an appearance of love and kindness as bait to tempt people into ungodly, unholy, and unrighteous situations, circumstances, relationships, commitments, distractions, behaviors, habits, etc. He can prey on our natural desire for love and kindness to lure us into sin, danger, evil, darkness, etc. We may see an appearance of love and kindness on the outside and neglect to see the evil behind it.
Examples? A married man offers a hurting woman kindness and love in an adulterous affair. An employer involved in fraud uses kindness and love to lure teenagers to work for him and become involved in his illegal activities. A bar owner uses kindness and love to tempt a town to turn its back on God and fill his place of business with drinking, drugs, and sexual immorality. A woman practicing a false religion uses kindness and love to take young broken women under her wing and to teach them to worship false gods. A child molester uses kindness and love to convince children to come into his home to be molested. A group of people use kindness and love to get us to spend time with them doing things displeasing to God whereby we are now also too busy to do what God would have us be doing. Self-help groups, recovery programs, and counselors not wholly centered on the Lord and the Bible use kindness and love to bring people through their doors.
Please be careful. Follow the Lord. In and through the Lord and those He places in our lives, we can find all the true, genuine, pure, and holy love and kindness we need! Where should we go with our yearning and longing for love and kindness? To the Lord and to the Bible and to His will for our lives, hallelujah!
Oh, God, help us not be deceived! Help us not believe the devil’s lies! Help us not fall into temptation! Oh God, we need you! Oh, God, help us see our need for you, dear Lord! Help us all to cry out to you! Keep us from the evil one, oh Lord, amen! Help us see the truth! Let us come to you for love and kindness. For your most magnificent lovingkindness, oh Lord. Yours is the real thing, oh thank you Lord, AMEN!
“Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.” Psalms 17:7 KJV
“How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.” Psalms 36:7 KJV
“Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.” Psalms 63:3 KJV