Followers of Kindness

As I preach through the fruit of the Spirit, this week I come to "kindness." I have been reminded how important this trait is for those who claim to be Christlike. I also wonder if the world would identify Christians as bearing this trait.

I came across a book entitled Conspiracy of Kindness. I think I am going to encourage our church to live by this theme -- and intentionally practice the kindness of Jesus.

I realize I am giving away some of my sermon for this Sunday, but I found this very interesting: The Greek word for "kindness" is "chresto." The Greek word for "Christ" is "christo." Because the words sound somewhat the same, early Christian writers tell us that some people referred to Christians not as "followers of Christ" (Christo), but "followers of kindness" (chresto).

I still obviously want to be identified as a follower of Christ. But I think it would be really cool if I (we) could be known as followers of kindness as well.