How priceless is your loving-kindness, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings….Answer me, O LORD, for Your loving-kindness is good; According to the greatness of Your compassion, turn to me. (Psalm 36:7; 69:16)
Let’s never forget that God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is love, kindness, and goodness in Himself and in His dealings with human beings. Pastor C. H. Spurgeon remind us:
God often turns from His wrath, but He never turns from His loving-kindness….Lord, send us a floodtide of your loving-kindness to carry us away from our doubts and fears….Nothing binds me to my Lord like a strong belief in His changeless loving-kindness. There are no changes in God’s love, though there may be changes in His ways of showing it.
If you missed it, you can go back and read The Lord is Kind (Part 1).
Here are more ways God is kind to us. Use my list to help you search the Scriptures for yourself and find more reasons to love Christ, trust Him, and imitate His kindness in your dealings with others.
5. The Lord is kind. He gives us sunny days and moonlit, starry nights to enjoy. Jeremiah 31:35 The Lord appoints the sun to shine by day and decrees the moon and stars to shine by night.
We are not to worship the planets or use them to govern our lives. “Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.”1 Don’t look to the sun, moon, and planets for guidance; look up higher to the Creator of the universe. Since God made and upholds the planets, He is uniquely qualified to take care of all our needs. Nothing is too hard for Him. Nothing is impossible for Him to accomplish. When we pray for and with other people, we connect them to Jesus’ infinite resources.
And the Bible teaches us to act as well as to pray, to put our faith into action by doing good deeds, not just thinking nice thoughts or saying nice things. “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”2
Praise the Lord, sun and moon; praise Him, all you shining stars….Let them praise the name of the Lord, for at His command they were created (Psalm 148:1-5)
6. The Lord is kind. He gives us His word, the Bible, and His Holy Spirit to direct our lives. Psalm 19:7-11 The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous….By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
Let us hold fast to the Bible as the anchor of our liberties, write its precepts on our hearts, and practice them in our lives. We are indebted to the Scriptures’ influence for the progress of civilization and we must look to the Bible as our guide for the future.3 The Lord calls us to pass on Scripture teaching to people who will also teach others.4 Most of us are competent to teach someone else parts of the Bible. Never doubt that a small group of committed Christians can turn the world upside down, which is really right-side up.5 Within thirty years from the Day of Pentecost, 120 believers who were prayerful and obedient to Jesus impacted the Roman Empire for good. By God’s grace, we can do the same!
I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws….Praise be to you, Lord; teach me your decrees. (Psalm 119:7,12)
7. The Lord is kind. He gives us His Son. Jesus Christ is God’s indescribable gift, too wonderful for words, inexpressible, priceless, unspeakably precious. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 1 John 4:9 This is how God showed His loving-kindness among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice (propitiation) for our sins.
Jesus died that we might be forgiven; He died to make us good, that we might go at last to Heaven, saved by His precious blood.6 There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins; And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.7 What language shall I borrow to thank thee, dearest Friend, for this, thy dying sorrow, thy pity without end? O make me thine forever; and should I fainting be, Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to thee.8
In addition to Jesus’ followers praising Him, having confidence in Christ, and love for God the Father, Son, and Spirit for saving us, the Lord’s loving-kindness should motivate us to share His good news with others. In 2 Kings chapter 7, four men with leprosy stumbled upon a victory the Lord had won for Old Testament Israel, but they hogged it selfishly. They said to each other, “What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves.” Then they went to announce God’s triumph to others. Christians ought to do the same with Jesus’ greater victory of salvation. God calls us to share the good news we know, not to hide it or keep silent about it, but to bless others by speaking Jesus’ gospel clearly and joyfully. “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”9
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing! (Revelation 5:12)
To be continued.
Go in peace (shalom=harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, well-being, and tranquility), beloved. Enjoy peace with God through Jesus today and be peace-makers who bless others in Jesus’ name!
Notes (various translations used): 1 Psalm 124:8. 2 1 John 3:17,18. 3 Ulysses S. Grant (altered). 4 2 Tim 2:12. 5 Acts 17:6 NKJ. 6 from hymn by Cecil Frances Alexander (1848). 7 from hymn by William Cowper (1772). 8 from hymn by James W. Alexander (1829). 9 2 Cor 5:20.