Tag: Kindness

Spiritual fruit

March 10, 2026

Can I tell you that I do not mind being called fruity, if you are referring to the fruit of the spirit?  These are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. As a Christian, this is how we should measure ourselves. Don’t fall into the trap of being judgmental. It is easy to do.

Galatians 5:22 begins with love. It is interesting that Paul also includes patience as the first attribute of love in First Corinthians 13 when he defines Agape’ for us. Kindness is also included in that list. I think he is trying to tell me something. Patience and kindness are important. We should not ignore the other parts of love. No envying, rudeness, selfishness, irritability, or resentment are also part of how God loves us.

Joy and peace are two words to look at more closely. Happiness is fleeting. Joy is also temporary if we let it be. Fruitful joy is hard to accomplish without Holy Spirit. Joy does not mean that you never have a bad day. When things are not going your way, joy lets you realize that things will become better. We let our minds betray us into thinking that our life is bad when it is just life.

Peace also can elude those who work without Him. It is not the absence of conflict. It is the presence of love and joy. Do you accept what the Lord has given you? Paul tells us to give thanks in all things. (1 Thessalonians 5:18) He also states in Philippians 4:11 that he has learned to be content. Notice the use of the word learned. Contentment is something we must also train ourselves to have.

Patience is the most difficult thing for me. “Lord, give me patience and give it to me now, it is what I usually pray. That prayer may miss the mark. Be careful about asking for it. His answer will continually test you. Patience is hard because we live in an instant society. We have our phones with us and can call, text, or check the internet thousands of times a day. I grew up at a time when we did not even have a home phone.

We all know how to be kind, good, and gentle. These may need to be tweaked by the Spirit. Follow His guidance, and you will arrive quicker. Again, these need to be intentional. We know what to do; we just need to be reminded to do it all day long. Practice it, and it will become as automatic as breathing or your heartbeat.

Self-control is another tough one. Notice that the word control follows self, indicating who should be in control. For Christians, we can hand this job over to Holy Spirit, if we will let Him take leadership of our lives. That becomes easier the more you do it.

I desire that you all become fruitier as I try to do the same. I mentioned judgment earlier. Let’s avoid that and try for discernment. (1 Corinthians 12:7-11) This is one of the gifts of the Spirit. You cannot have these gifts if your spirit is still dead. A relationship with Jesus is needed for the rebirth of your spirit. (John 3:1-21) After you start that relationship, the fruits will appear if you cultivate them.

©Copyright 2026 by Charles Kensinger

Words

January 1, 2026

A local radio personality asked people to call in with a word for the year. He felt like this was better than asking about resolutions. I agree. My problem is that I can’t choose one word for the entire year.

Peace, joy, love, kindness, and self-control immediately come to mind. They are things to pray for and strive for. Concentrating on these for just one year will not achieve lasting results. We must focus on them every day, week, and year.

I have a long list of words for different occasions that I will share this year as I think of them. Watch for my new category, words. I will post columns there to give us all additional information about things that will be beneficial to us and our world.

Let’s start with kindness. It is a simple word. A dictionary definition is the quality or state of being kind. Of a sympathetic or helpful nature is the meaning of kind. At least that is the one that relates to kindness. Do you see the problem?

We should all treat each other with kindness, but we disagree on exactly what that means. Let’s try a different approach. Think of a time when someone was not kind to you. That’s easy. You just thought of at least one or two incidents where someone was not kind to you.

Turnabout is fair play. Looking at those actions, consider times when you act like that to others. Do not tell me that you never do that. I know I have times when I am not kind. We are talking about improving ourselves over the next year. First, let’s try not to be unkind.

We can all consider each other as our equals and treat them as such. That is being kind. We are not all kind when we drive. Think about how you act toward other drivers. Some run red lights or stop signs. I have witnessed this. Many of us do not enjoy the roundabouts that we have now. Most have yield signs on all four streets.

Some of you say that you cannot yield to others because they will not yield to you. It does not hurt anyone if I fail to yield. Until I hit another car. That is not being kind. It is also not kind to jump out of your vehicle and scream and yell at another person that you hit. You know you were at fault, but to scare them, you try to make them believe they are responsible.

That will be our next word. I have noticed how many of us seem not to know what it means to take responsibility for our own actions. We will discuss that next time. Until then, I would like each of us to eliminate as much of our unkindness as we can and find ways to be kinder as often as possible. Let’s make our lives better, one word at a time

©Copyright 2026 by Charles Kensinger