“If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.” Proverbs 25:21-22

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21

“Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.

Main Point - If we want a spouse who IS KIND, we need to

Reveal Answer

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” —Ephesians 4:32

Greek Word - Chrestos - Goodness, kindness.

Ref - Romans 3:12

Being Kind Means Being

Reveal Answer

Being kind requires action. It requires us to do something. If you are kind on the inside, it’s going to come out. When we are filled with his Holy Spirit, our lives are radically changed by that and we start to pour forth fruits in keeping with it. In other words, when you are born again, you become a different tree. The old tree produced bad fruit, this new tree produces good fruit.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” —Ephesians 2:4-8

In marriage, it’s similar because it’s a picture of the gospel. Each person sacrifices for the other in order to become one. What this means practically in marriage:

1. It’s not my will, but ours.
2. It’s not my ways (or my parents), but ours.
3. It’s not my desires, but ours.

Being Kind Means Being

Reveal Answer

Paul in Ephesians 4, connects being kind with being tenderhearted. I love the term tenderhearted. It gives you a great picture. The opposite of a stony heart or a hard heart.

“Pain and hardship are intended to make us stronger, to humble us, to make us more tenderhearted and gentle toward others.” —Richard Foster

Being Kind Means Being

Reveal Answer

In our passage, Paul connects being a forgiving person to being kind.

Jesus gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That means people are going to be hurt and torn apart and our job is to offer them the forgiveness of God as we work to bring them back to unity.

Marriage Is A Mirror. It reveals what you really look like. If you want to know what you look like, ask your spouse.

Prayer Points

1. Lord, help me to plan an act of kindness this week.
2. Father, where do I need to forgive someone?
3. Jesus, where are you trying to soften my heart?