And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32
Paul in our opening verse admonishes us to be kind, tenderhearted and forgiving. Another word for tender in english is 'soft' or in this case, being 'softhearted' which is exactly what the people of the world call us when we decide to go out of our way to be nice to them. They give us all sorts of derogatory labels such as: soft, weak or naive. An example is when we decide to forgive someone when the opportunity to get back at them is before us; or give to others at the expense of our own needs.
In John Chapter 8, our Lord and mentor, Jesus, when given the chance to be harsh and judgemental towards the adulterous woman by the Pharisees rather chose to be soft and kind to her. He continued to admonish us in Matthew 18:22 to also forgive those who wrong us seventy times seven times.
Therefore, even if those around us criticize us for being soft and kind, we are not perturbed because we know that God and His word are for us.
LIFE APPLICATION
Go out of your way to be kind to others regardless of what you shall be called by others.
PRAYER
Lord, teach me to be loving and tenderhearted to everyone I encounter.
HAPPY NEW MONTH
