Something beautiful happens when we see God through the lens of love, when we really understand that He wants to be kind to us. He’s not trying to punish us, He’s not angry with us, He’s not frustrated with us and then pulling His hair out because of something we’ve done. But His intentions towards us are kind, right?
There’s a beautiful verse in Romans 2:4, where it says, “The goodness and the kindness of God draws us and leads us to repentance.” Not the stick, but the carrot, right? When God shows us who He is, we can’t help but go, “I want to be close to you. I want to know you as my Father in that way.” When that happens, when we focus on God’s kindness and see His kindness and let Him show us that kindness, it actually draws us to Him.
And so I’d love to give you this experiment to try with Him. I said to Him one day, “Lord, will you show me how you want to be kind to someone else around me?” And as you ask that question, you just sit for a moment and you’ll hear, for example, “Text Sarah some encouragement,” right? Or you’ll hear, “Make this for dinner tonight, because they’re really going to need it when they come home.” Or, “Hey, put a business proposal together this way because it’s just a win, win, win, win, win situation for everyone involved.” It’s such a cool experiment to go on with the Lord. So as you sit and you go, “Lord, I know that your kindness will draw us to repentance – which means that it just draws us closer to God’s heart– so how are you showing your kindness to me today? And how can your kindness be shown to others through me today?” I tell you, you’ll go through your day looking for these opportunities, listening closely to the Lord, feeling His nudges. And He’ll say to you, you’ll be in the grocery store, and He’ll say to you, “Hey, pay for someone’s groceries today,” right? And it’s the coolest thing to be able to do that. Or He’ll say to you, “There’s a piece of trash on the floor. Hey, pick that piece of trash up.” And somebody else will see you and go, “You know what? Everyone else has walked over their piece of trash, but you stopped and picked it up.”
There are a thousand ways that God can show His goodness and His kindness to you and to everyone around you today. I challenge you and invite you to go on that adventure with Him today to see how He wants to do that through you.