Titus 3. 4
‘But when the kindness and the love of God our Savour toward
man appeared’
What is your mental image of
someone who is kind? Does it conjure up
an image of a certain type of person in your mind? This will all depend on the
type of kindness that you have experienced in your life. Sadly some people
don’t experience much kindness at all. I meet people who when they have met
Christians for the first time cannot believe the care and kindness that they
have been shown. They often wonder what the catch is! It is great to see them
realise that there is no catch; it is just kindness for its own sake. When this
happens the Christian is truly reflecting the type of kindness that God is
known for.
Paul is writing to Titus on the
island of Crete. The Cretans were a bad lot. They were known to be greedy,
violent and liars – not many ‘wannabee’ features on that list. But then the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ came to the island and the people who believed
were changed.
The apostle describes our Saviour,
the Lord Jesus as ‘the kindness and love of God our Saviour’. What a
description! The Lord Jesus is the full expression of the love and kindness of
God. Watch him among the people of his day, his care, concern and compassion is
self evident. Listen to his words. Note how he uses his time. In every aspect
of his life you will note this – He can honestly be described as ‘the love and
kindness of God’.
I am sure that you will agree that
it would be important for us to be like our Lord and Saviour. He asks us to
follow him as disciples. He requests that we learn of him. We are called Christians
which describes our links to him. In another letter Paul says to Christians ‘be
kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in
Christ forgave you’ (Eph.4.32). What a standard, what an example! I trust that
we will allow the Spirit of God to make us more like our Lord.
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