If you were listening last week you'll perhaps remember that we were thinking about what Paul calls

the fruit of the Spirit. In fact, the ninefold fruit of the Spirit. And if you were with us

all last week, you'll probably know Galatians 5, 22 to 23 off by heart by now. But just in case

they're not quite in your memory banks, I'm going to quote the words again. Here they are.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there is no law. Kindness is our theme today.

It follows patience. And I think you can see how these three graces, patience, kindness and goodness

form the second of three trilogies in Paul's list. You can't be kind unless you're patient,

can you? In some circumstances, simply being patient with a difficult person is being kind to

them. Kindness is a beautiful thing. I think there's some evidence that it's related to the old

word kind or kin, meaning your relatives, people in your family. It means treating people as family.

Kindness often translates one of the greatest words in the Hebrew Bible.

Yes, it. What one of the Old Testament scholars translated as,

Leo Love, Loyalty Love. It's just as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 and verse 4.

I think we should notice something here again that's both important and encouraging.

Kindness isn't something spectacular, is it? This isn't about being on the big stage and being

fond on by adoring fans as though you were some kind of celebrity. But this is what really matters.

This is what the Holy Spirit most delights to produce in us. Not kudos, but kindness.

Actually, it's what the little Old Testament book of Ruth is all about. How Ruth showed kindness

to her bereaved mother-in-law Naomi. And how Boaz showed kindness to Ruth. And how Boaz felt

that Ruth had shown kindness to him and all because of the kindness of the God who is kind to his people.

The Spirit wants to inject that into our spiritual DNA so that it's embedded in all we are

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