Love hurts, right? Well, sort of. It hurts to love someone who doesn’t return our love and God knows this all too well, but when the Bible says that “Love is kind” in 1 Corinthians 13:4, God is letting us know that love, as He defines it, doesn’t seek to harm people.
Remember that love is more than an uncontrollable feeling. Love is a choice and love is action. And real love chooses to act toward others in ways that are kind rather than in ways that are harmful. When someone in our life is controlling, abusive, or manipulative, they aren’t being loving. When we get mean, we aren’t being loving, no matter how much we may claim that we are “in love.”
Kindness is also a part of the fruit of the Spirit. It’s something that we display as we grow in our sensitivity to God’s working and leading in our lives. God Himself has taken the initiative to show His great kindness toward us by offering us the gift of eternal life through the sacrificial death of His own Son, Jesus. It is His overwhelming kindness that leads us to fall before Him in repentance and gratitude and praise. This kindness of God was put on display in the life of Jesus who healed, served, taught, blessed, touched, and loved a generation of Jewish people in a way they’d never truly experienced before.
Have you experienced, personally, the kindness of God by trusting Him for your salvation? He wants to receive you into His family and teach you how to love others in ways you’ve never been capable of before. But He’s too kind to push you into something you don’t want. In His kindness, He lets you choose to love Him back or not.
