"Searching Kindness"
One day David asked, "Is anyone in Saul's family still alive—anyone to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan's sake?" (2 Samuel 9:1 NLT)
David was a kind man. It led to him being a kind king. He even wanted to be kind to the man's family that tried to kill him. Saul tried to kill David over & over again. He threw spears at him, he pursued him in the wilderness, & didn't allow him to return home.
Most kings would have killed their predecessors sons as soon as they became king. Instead, David looks for someone from Saul's family to be kind to. Notice that he looks for it. He doesn't wait for it. He doesn't have someone tell him. He looks for it himself. He wants to show God's kindness to Mephibosheth. Imagine that, an enemy of the king dining at the kings table.
I don't know about you, but I often don't show kindness to people even when it falls in my lap to do so. Even when it's easy & right in front of my eyes I'm not always kind. Kindness doesn't come easy for me. Even more, I don't pursue kindness for others on my own initiative. In fact, I tend to be similar to the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan. I just cross on the other side of the road.
This doesn't seem to embody "love your neighbor" does it? In fact, kindness was shown to me in a totally different way. I killed the king's son with my rebellion. I dishonored him with my life & he pursued me & died for me. He brought a "dead dog" like me to his table to eat as one of his sons. He went out of his way to show kindness to me. He gave his life to bring me to the table. How can a receiver of such kindness not go out of his way to be kind?
From now on, I want to look for ways to be kind proactively. I want to see others like Jesus sees them. I want to love my neighbor as myself. I want to live a life of kindness.
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