Small Kindnesses 小善举
Dexu Xia
Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12
Amanda works as a visiting nurse who rotates among several nursing homes—often bringing her eleven-year-old daughter Ruby to work. For something to do, Ruby began asking residents, “If you could have any three things, what would you want?” and recording their answers in her notebook. Surprisingly, many of their wishes were for little things—Vienna sausages, chocolate pie, cheese, avocados. So Ruby set up a GoFundMe to help her provide for their simple wishes. And when she delivers the goodies, she doles out hugs. She says, “It lifts you. It really does.”
When we show compassion and kindness like Ruby’s, we reflect our God who “is gracious and compassionate . . . and rich in love” (Psalm 145:8). That’s why the apostle Paul urged us, as God’s people, to “clothe [our]selves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12). Because God has shown great compassion to us, we naturally long to share His compassion with others. And as we do so intentionally, we “clothe” ourselves in it.
Paul goes on to tell us: “over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (v. 14). And he reminds us that we are to “do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (v. 17), remembering that all good things come from God. When we’re kind to others, our spirits are lifted.
When have you been the benefactor of someone’s kindness? How can you show kindness to another?
Jesus, thank You for showing me overflowing, unlimited kindness. Help me to find joy in doing kind acts for others.
要穿上怜悯、恩慈、谦虚、温柔和忍耐。—歌罗西书3章12节，和合本修订版
爱曼达是一名家访看护，轮流在数家疗养院工作。她经常会带着她11岁的女儿贝贝一起去上班。贝贝为了打发时间，就开始问那些住在疗养院的人说：“若你能拥有三样东西，你会想要些什么呢？”贝贝把他们的答案都写在记事本里。出人意料地，他们想要的大多是食品，例如维也纳香肠、巧克力派、乳酪和酪梨。于是，贝贝设立一个“赞助我”的网站，以得到资助来满足他们那些小小的愿望。当她送出这些礼物时，会给对方一个拥抱。她说：“这让我好开心！”
当我们像贝贝一样以怜悯恩慈待人时，我们就向人显示我们的上帝是“有恩惠，有怜悯，……大有慈爱”（诗篇145篇8节）。因此，使徒保罗劝勉信徒：“你们既是上帝的选民，……要穿上怜悯、恩慈、谦虚、温柔和忍耐”（歌罗西书3章12节，和合本修订版）。因为上帝以极大的怜悯恩待我们，我们自然会渴盼别人也能一同蒙恩。当我们以怜悯恩慈待人时，便是将之“穿”在身上了。
保罗还说：“除此以外，还要穿上爱心，因为爱是贯通全德的”（14节，同上），并且提醒我们“无论做什么，……都要奉主耶稣的名”（17节），谨记一切美善的事都来自上帝。当我们以恩慈待人，我们的心就充满喜乐！
你曾于何时受人恩惠？你如何以恩慈待人？
耶稣，谢谢祢赐给我满溢、无尽的恩惠。
求祢使我以恩慈的行动关怀别人时，也能得着喜乐！