Pastor John D Jakes

Beloved,

Have you thought much about what makes a person worthy of trust?  When I think about that question my answer is generally that the person is honest with me, keeps their word, and doesn’t reveal my heart’s secrets.  Aren’t those the things which comes to your mind?

However, when it comes to those heart secrets there is one more word that comes to mind: kindness. I know several people who are honest with me, keep their word, and won’t reveal the secrets of my heart. However, I don’t share those heart secrets with them.  I hide them.  I won’t let them completely in.  Why? It is because of this issue of kindness.  If I do not see a person practicing kindness to others, I won’t trust them with my heart.

Think with me about the people we have been studying in our evening service – Ruth and Boaz.  Both of these people showed great kindness.  Ruth showed it to Naomi by sticking with her through thick and thin.  Boaz showed it to Ruth by protecting her in the field and providing for she and Naomi’s needs.  Simple stuff, to be sure, but it meant a great deal to these folks.  In fact, Boaz comments several times on the kindness of Ruth.  He comments on her kindness to Naomi and her kindness towards him.  He says, “”May you be blessed of the LORD, my daughter. You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first by not going after young men, whether poor or rich.” (Ruth 3:10)

The book of Ruth could just be another history.  However, we have made it a love story.  Even Ruth’s declaration of commitment to Naomi we have turned into wedding vows.  Do you remember these words, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.” (Ruth 1:16-17)?

What makes the book of Ruth so romantic? It is because of the nature of kindness.  We can almost see the love dripping from its pages.  Kindness communicates this.  It communicates that my heart can trust how someone else will treat it. Kindness tells me that I won’t be betrayed by deed or by word.

Our challenge today: Demonstrate that you can be trusted with the hearts of the people in your life by being kind. Perhaps you’ve noticed some distance in your marriage or in your relationships with your kids.  Could it be that kindness is missing?

Something to think about,

Pastor John