Forty Days Full - An Invitation To Real Life

they handed us an envelope with a $10,000 check inside. It literally took our breath away. It still does. This came at a time when we were in the midst of a major financial crisis. I tried to tell them it was too much, but they were resolute. It was something God had told them to do. Acts of kindness such as this are very humbling. I began to make excuses in my head why it was too much, and they needed the money for their own family. Even though we are humbled we have to know how to receive an act of kindness because it is the Holy Spirit at work. Ann and I are eternally grateful for their expression of love. Kindness is love expressed. It’s one of the ways you show love to a person. Heidi Baker says, "love looks like something." Love with no expression is empty. Verbal commitments of love that have no action behind them feel hollow after a while. Kindness is the physical overflow of a heart filled with love. It is love with feet. We preach very consistently a gospel not of good works, but of faith through grace. But there needs to be a fruit or an evidence that can be seen. Paul said, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (Galatians 5:6b NIV) Are there any feet to your proclaimed faith? Do you serve God only with your mouth? Is there evidence to back up your claims? In Matthew 25, Jesus tells the story of the sheep and the goats. The goats ignore people in need, while the sheep see people in need and help them. One message of this story is that all simple acts of kindness are seen by the Lord. In fact, Jesus receives these expressions of love as ministry to himself. Jesus says, when you've done it for one of the least of these my brothers, you've done it unto me. There is another aspect to kindness. If you, as a victim of a crime, bring your case before a judge, you will not be very interested in the kindness of that judge. You want to know if