The Alpha of Kindness

UV 3072/10000 The Alpha of Kindness
And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2 Peter 1 v 7
Just as Jesus is our Keeper, our Good Shepherd, we are to be our brothers’ keeper. We are to genuinely love all people and especially those of the brotherhood of faith. Instead of competing with each other for honour or recognition, we should give precedence to others. We should take steps to meet the needs of our brothers in cash and kind and not merely show lip service to the needy. The evidence that we truly belong to God and to Jesus is that we reflect His love for our fellow beings in practical ways. Jesus had compassion on the people wherever He interacted with them as recorded in the gospels. If He saw that they were hungry, He multiplied the few loaves and fish to feed them.

Brotherly or fraternal love is many splendoured and has many qualities. We are to be patient with the weak in faith. We are to be forgiving to those who hurt us without reason. We should not retaliate in the same coin but be ready to bear the pain. If someone asks us for help, we should be ready to go the extra mile to give them a hand of assistance. We should keep a record of all their kindnesses to us and learn to forget or let go the harm they caused us. We should not exploit them for any selfish reason or take advantage of them.
We should be careful in the words we speak to others and not insult or humiliate them in any way. We should regard them better than ourselves in many ways and try to learn from them and not consider ourselves superior. It is said that a kind word can keep a person warm in winter. Much of kindness depends therefore in how we relate and communicate with others. For the rest, acts of love and charity to the poor and needy constitute practical ways of being kind to people around us.