The Ministry of Kindness

Beautiful churches are pleasing to the eye, but they do not win hearts to Christ. Nor do elaborate ceremonies or formal rituals win them. The are not won by pomp and show. The one doorway into the human heart is the doorway of kindness.

Paul speaks of "proving ourselves as the ministers of God ... by kindness." Note that he did not say, "by promoting great programs," nor "by building magnificent temples," nor, "by preaching eloquent sermons, but "by kindness."

There is nothing that will more surely prove those called to be ministers than the simple ministry of kindness. This is true of laymen as well as ministers. The practice of kindness will do more to prove your profession of Christianity that any other thing. Nothing makes religion so attractive and winsome as kindness. If we would win people to Christ, we must first win their hearts. And hearts are won by kindness.

Kindness is the simplest virtue required of Christians. And yet there is no greater ministry in which we can engage. It is by friendly gestures, by kind words, by simple deeds that affection is won and hearts are comforted. One of the first memory verses taught our youngsters is, "Be ye kind, one to another."

It would be well for "oldsters" as well as youngsters to make this a motto for day-by-day living.

"And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." Eph. 41:32.