there are legitimate fears

if you’re going to be kind you must be willing to take risks and you have to look at your fears. such as what if he asks me to do something that i can’t do? then i’ll feel inadequate. i'll feel dumb.
there are all kinds of legitimate fears.

there’s one big fear we don’t like to talk about, but i need to mention it. we often don’t want to get involved in other people’s pain and brokenness because it reminds us of our own pain and brokenness. we’ve got the pain in our lives pushed down, and we think we’ve got a lid on it. but it’s bubbling under the surface. but i’m afraid to ever get close to anybody else, because if i start dealing with their pain, all of a sudden mine’s going to bubble out. on the other hand, if i can ignore your pain and your brokenness, then i can pretend that i don’t have any pain or brokenness. i don’t have to face mine if i don’t have to face yours.

on the other hand, dealing with somebody who’s broken might cause me to see my own brokenness. maybe i don’t want to deal with that woman whose husband just walked out because it brings back the pain of my husband who walked out. i don’t want to deal with that person who just had a miscarriage because i don’t want to deal with the pain that i haven’t dealt with in my miscarriage. i don’t want to deal with that guy who lost his job because it reminds me how inadequate i felt when i lost my job.

the truth is: it’s fear that makes us unkind. we need to deal with others, and we need to let GOD deal with us in love. the bible says, there is no fear in love. perfect love casts out all fear.

JESUS said it like this in matthew 7.12 (jb), always treat others as you would like them to treat you. that of course is the golden rule. always treat others as you would like them to treat you.

also if you want to become a kind person, another thing the good samaritan did was to spend whatever it takes. start seeing the needs of others, sympathize with their pain, seize the moment to be kind and spend whatever it takes.

there is always a cost to kindness. there is always a price tag. it inevitably causes you to sacrifice time or money or energy or reputation or something. privacy maybe, to sacrifice that. it costs to be kind.

in luke 10.34-35 (nlt), it says, then the man [the good samaritan] put the man on his own donkey and he took him to an inn where he took care of him. the next day he handed the innkeeper two pieces of silver [these were denari, which were about two months worth of wages.] and he told him to take care of the man. “If his bill runs higher than that,” he said, “i’ll pay the difference the next time i’m here

just a thought from the front porch…