βWhy have I found such favor [grace] in your eyes that you notice meβa foreigner?β Ruth 2:10
Some say that the American writer Anne Herbert scribbled the phrase βPractice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beautyβ on a placemat at a restaurant in 1982. The sentiment has since been popularized through film and literature and has become a part of our vocabulary.
The questionΒ is βWhy?β Why should we show kindness? For those who follow Jesus, the answer is clear: To show the tender mercy and kindness of God.
Thereβs an Old Testament example of that principle in the story of Ruth, the emigrant from Moab. She was a foreigner, living in a strange land whose language and culture she did not understand. Furthermore, she was desperately poor, utterly dependent on the charity of a people who took little notice of her.
There was one Israelite, however, who showed Ruth grace and spoke to her heart (Ruth 2:13). He allowed her to glean in his fields, but more than simple charity, he showed her by his compassion the tender mercy of God, the One under whose wings she could take refuge. She became Boazβs bride, part of the family of God, and one in a line of ancestors that led to Jesus, who brought salvation to the world (see Matt. 1:1β16).
We never know what one act of kindness, done in Jesusβs name, will do.
Lord, what do You want me to do for another today? Lead me. And may that person see a glimmer of You.
Share your ideas of how you can show kindness in the name of Jesus today at Facebook.com/ourdailybread.
Itβs never too soon to be kind.
The command to be kind to others is embedded in the Law that God gave to the Jews fresh out of Egypt. God told them, βDo not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lordβ (Lev. 19:18). Today, Christ-followers are to βbe kind and compassionate to one anotherβ (Eph. 4:32). And the reasons we are to show kindness have not changed: It is because of who God is and what He has done for us. We are to βfollow Godβs example, . . . and walk in the way of loveβ (5:1β2).