Fruit of the Spirit Week 2: Kindness
This week we are continuing our study of the fruit of the spirit. So gather your family around and why not grab a piece of fruit to tuck into, whilst we delve into this week’s content all about kindness.
Kindness
Kindness is such a powerful thing. Jesus was the embodiment of pure kindness. He gave to others and never expected anything in return. As Christians, we are expected to be kind. Jesus tells us, to love one another (John 13:34-35 NIV).
Here’s a little clip of one of our favourite films with a mum giving some brilliant advice to her daughter, can you guess which film it is from?
Why do you think she might have told the little girl to have courage as well as being kind? Courage and kindness often go hand in hand. Why? Well being kind is not always easy. It is not just giving someone a one-off gift or paying someone a throw-away compliment. It’s so much more than that. It’s about self-sacrifice, which means choosing to do something good for someone else, which isn’t going to benefit you at all. You give up your right for something good for the benefit of someone else - even someone you don’t particularly like.
Doing something like that takes courage. But God can help
us. If we pray and ask Him to help us, He will grant us the strength it takes to be truly kind.
Sometimes kindness can be overlooked or taken for granted. Take a moment to think about this week. Can you think of some moments of kindness that occurred in your own home? What did they look like? Who was kind? Was it you? Or were you on the receiving end? How did that make you feel?
God is always kind and always faithful. He never changes. Let’s spend some time worshipping him now.
Let’s worship
We’ve learned that if we stay close to God and spend time worshipping him that we can potentially enjoy more of the fruit of His Holy Spirit in our own lives. So let’s worship our kind and loving God now and pray we receive more of his kindness in our hearts, which we can then spread and share with others,
So get up out of your seats, crank up the volume and give thanks to our Lord and Saviour in song. Some you’ll recognise from church and there’s a new one from Rend Collective Kids that Katy loves called ‘Feel Good’.
Here’s a song we featured last week which is about all NINE of the different fruit of the spirit. We thought we’d put it up here again to help you memorise each one… plus it’s a super fun song to dance to and praise Jesus with.
Let’s dive into the Bible
Ruth 1:1-17 (NIV)
The bible mentions kindness over 50 times! In Ephesians 4:32 Paul says “Be kind and loving to each other.” How easy do you think that is? Imagine you and your friend have a packet of sweets each. As you’re walking along, your friend drops his sweets in a puddle. What do you do? Share a few of yours? What would the really kind thing to do be? It would be to give him your sweets and go without even though that would be really tough for you.
In the video below, Annabelle brings to life a great story from the bible about a woman called Ruth who despite enduring great tragedy in her life, chose to put someone else’s happiness and wellbeing before her own. She devotes her life to supporting her mother-in-law Naomi even though she could have returned to her homeland.
Ruth shows us the meaning of true kindness.
Let’s Learn - What’s the message?
In the book of Ruth, we see acts of kindness from both the main characters.
Naomi has empathy for the her daughters-in-law and tells them to go back to their homelands and return to their families, so that they can be looked after and be happy again.
This is the first example of true kindness in the story because Naomi would face a life alone and in poverty if they left.
Both Orpah and Naomi are upset at the thought of leaving Naomi alone, but eventually Orpah goes home to her family and Ruth stays behind. Ruth chooses to be kind and put Naomi’s happiness above her own!
What would you have done?
Here’s Katy to talk to you more about kindness that she’s experienced in her own life.
Let’s get kind
Lovechurch Kids your special mission…
…should you wish to accept is to become a member of the secret service gang and perform secret acts of kindness for people in your household. This could be making your parents’ bed, slipping a note of encouragement or a thoughtful drawing under someone’s pillow, feeding your pet, tidying your room without being asked and even doing your home learning without complaining! The key is to do these kind things out of love without expecting anything in return.
Grown ups we want to hear about these stealth acts so please share examples with us via social media or email.
We can’t wait to hear from you.
Let’s get creative
Kindness Pebbles
Next time you go to the beach, why not pick up some pebbles and decorate them with messages of encouragement and positivity. You could display them around your house or even take some back to the beach to spread a little kindness in the world.
Chalk Messages
On a dry day next week, why not write some messages of kindness on the pavement outside your house and watch to see how they brighten up someone’s day. You could even draw a hopscotch for people to play as they pass by. Sometimes simple acts of kindness like this one can do some muchto cheer people up.
Kindness Poster
A gorgeous poster for all you budding artists out there to enjoy.
Download the poster as a PDF here
Let’s pray
Dear God,
Thank you for showing us what Kindness should look like in the bible.
Thank you for the people around us who are show us kindness.
We are sorry for the times that we are not as kind as we could be.,
Help us this week to undertake secret acts of kindness for those we love.
Help us to spread joy and kindness to strangers.
Amen.
