#94 Love is Kind (14/09/03)

Dr. Robert A. Schuller

You know the teacher asked the students to give a list of the wonders of the world, the seven wonders of the world. So the students turned in lists that included things like the Parthenon, the Taj Mahal, the pyramids, the Great Wall of China, the Acropolis in Athens, things of that nature.
One young person was feverishly writing, and the teacher asked her to turn in her paper, and she says, well I'm not quite ready yet. And he says, well, why? I mean there's seven things. She goes, but there's so many wonderful things, I don't know which 7 to choose. He says, well, what do you mean? Share them with us, maybe we can help you.

She says, well, there's to touch, to see, to feel, to hear, to speak, to cry, and to love. And everyone was silent, because the greatest things in this world are not things, monuments, cathedrals. The greatest things in this world are the intangible; the emotions, the spirit. And we all know that the spiritual world is far more wondrous and grander than we can ever begin to comprehend.

According to Jesus Christ and according to St. Paul, the key to the ingredients of the spiritual world is a thing called love. St. Paul said it this way, "And there abideth these three, faith, hope and love. The greatest of these is love." Love is kind.

You know, there's an acrostic that I wrote to help you understand and follow the outline of kindness, love is kind. The acrostic is very simple.

It begins with "K" knowledge. We have to know. We have to have an understanding of where there's a need. We have to have understanding of others, of people. So it begins with a knowledge.

It continues with an investment. Because in order for us to be kind it requires us to make an investment of time, or money, or energy.

And then the "N" stands for a need fulfillment. Where we actually find a need and we fill it. Finally it's concluded, the acrostic is concluded with "D", decision to act.

Love is kind, knowledge, investment, need and decision. But it starts with the knowledge.
It's interesting to look at toddlers. You know, that real interesting age where they're about this big. And they're still got their diapers on, and they're running around, and they're grabbing everything, and what do they say when they grab it? Mine. Right? Mine. They grab it, and they grab something else. Mine. No, no, no that's very fragile put that down.

Oh, I've got a little terror for a nephew. He comes over to our house. Now my youngest child today is 14 years old. So there was a time when our house was child safe. And throughout the years it's just become un-child safe until we have our nephew over. Oh my goodness. Oh, my goodness. I have no idea. He runs through mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, gemme, gemme, gemme, gemme, gemme.

And as part of... totally, completely normal part of being a child. Being a toddler. But there comes a time in our life where we grow up. And hopefully there comes a time in our life, we realize that everything is not for us. And that there are other people in this world who have needs. That we no longer have to be a consumer, but a contributor.

An interesting thing about kindness. I studied Greek for many years. In fact I had a real challenge with foreign languages. So I decided, knowing that I was going to go into seminary, and require Greek for seminary, I decided that I would start taking my Greek in college, because I had the language requirement in college as well. So as a sophomore I started taking Greek. And true to form I had difficulty with my Greek, but my first semester...after my first semester my professor was very kind and he gave me a passing grade.

I then turned around and signed up for the next available Greek class, 'cause I had to learn Greek for seminary. Went back into the class and my teacher pulled me aside, and he said, "Robert, I was being...what are you doing here?" I said, "what do you mean what am I doing here. I signed up for the class 'cause I have to learn Greek." He said, "you're not prepared for this class. I was kind. I gave you a nice grade so you would leave. What are you doing here?" And when I explained to him that I had intention of going to seminary that I have a real difficult time with foreign languages, he tutored me. For a couple of hours a week, we'd sit down together, just he and I. And so my Greek knowledge became pretty proficient.

So I'm aware of the Greek words that take place and how they're pronounced, because he would require us to read our Greek orally. And he had to be able to understand it, orally; otherwise, we didn't read it sufficiently. And one of the interesting things is that the word for kindness is Christos. What does that sound like to you? You know your Latin? It's the same word in Latin as it is in Greek, Christos. It's the word Christ. It's pronounced absolutely the same. There is one letter difference it's the difference between an "E" and an "I". But it's pronounced absolutely the same. So when someone in the Greek community would go and introduce themselves as a Christian in Greek. What would people hear? They would hear these words, a person of kindness. Not understanding who Christ was. Not understanding anything about the Hebraic understanding of Christ being totally different. They would simply hear the words, a person of kindness.

Today, we look at this understanding of, "Love is kind." And we realize that in order for us to be the person that God has called us to be. To be the Christian and a representative, an ambassador for Christ is for us to first and foremost be kind.

That requires us to start looking beyond ourselves. To grow-up. To become mature and look beyond our own needs and our own desires and our own wants.

I heard of one man who was walking through the mall and he saw a group of people who were handicapped and here is this group of people. They we're gathered in front of the toy store, and all the boys and all the young girls were looking at the toys and just oooing and gooing and ahh, looking at all the different toys and there was one person who was clear the director. So he came up to the director, and he pulled out a hundred dollar bill, and said, "here, would you let these young people go in and buy a toy," and he walked away. Nameless, unidentified, random act of kindness.

It's an investment. Time, money, or energy. Money's really the easiest one. Time is probably more difficult. You see somebody who is in serious need, and you take the time to help them. You have things planned for the day. You have to be at work. You have to do this you have to do that. And suddenly you stop and you take the time, very precious. How do you count the value of a day? How do you count the value of time? And you give it to someone else.

Jesus tells us the story of the Good Samaritan. And you probably are familiar with this story. You've probably heard it a million times.

The teacher of the law came to Jesus and says, "What is the law?" And Jesus says, "what is written in the law?" Interesting thing, He answers a question with a question. He replied, "how do you read it?" He says, "oh love the Lord, your God, with all your heart; with all you're soul; with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself." "You've answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live eternally." Right? That's implied. It's already been said. Eternal life.

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "and who is my neighbor?" And Jesus said, "a man was going down Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell in the hands of robbers. And they stripped him of his clothes, and they beat him, and went away leaving him half-dead. And a priest happened to be going by on the same road, and when he saw the man he passed on the other side. So to a Levite when he came to the place, saw him, passed by the other side."

"But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was. And when he saw him he took pity on him. He went to him. Bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out 2 silver coins, and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return I'll reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'"

"Now," Jesus said, "which of these men do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" And the expert of the law said, "he who had mercy on him," and Jesus said, "go and do likewise."

Love is kind. It's an awareness, a knowledge. That there are other people besides ourselves in this world. It is an investment of our time, our money and our energy. It is a need fulfillment where you find the need and you actually fulfill it.

I read an article on altruistic behavior. It was years ago, but it was so profound and so insightful. The article went on to say that altruistic behavior is an impossibility. You know the understanding of being altruistic means that you do something with absolutely no intention of any personal return. That's the whole understanding of being altruistic. And these random act of kindness is an attempt of altruistic behavior where we do something simply and solely for the purpose of doing something good.

The article went on to say it's really impossible to do that. Because what happens when you give in such a manner, do you know what you get back in return? You get the most incredible, wonderful feeling. It's so beautiful, and so wonderful that it's worth anything. And as a result of receiving back for that gift of giving, and therefore is no longer altruistic.

So we need to find places, and things, and institutions, and people for giving. We need to give because we need to give. Being kind requires us to have a knowledge of others. It requires us to invest our time and our money and our energy. It's need fulfilling, both of others and ourselves. It is a decision to act, to do something, to make a choice that's going to make a difference.
I think one of the funniest stories that I've ever heard of an altruistic behavior was one that was done by my father. You know the guy with gray hair. He was Christmas shopping with my mother, and they were in Laguna Beach, and he noticed a meter-maid coming through the city writing tickets. And being Christmas, he felt really bad 'cause he saw all of these other cars that, you know, whose meters have run out.

So he ran and he put quarters in all the meters, saving them a ticket. That was his random act of kindness. Well, just recently we discovered that all of the people who live in Laguna are encouraged to buy parking stickers for their cars. So if you have a parking sticker that you've paid for, you don't have to put the quarters in the meter.

In other words, my father went up and down the street putting in quarters for cars that didn't need the quarters. So it took us twenty years to figure that out. Oh, you know sometimes it can be very difficult to be kind. It's very difficult to be a Christian. We were never told it was going to be easy. We are told that there may be challenges. And so I'm going to conclude with a little poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. It's called, "The World's Need."

So many gods so many creeds. With so many paths that wind and wind while just the act of being kind is all this sad world needs.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You, that You are constantly in the process of sharing, revealing, using, motivating, inspiring us to be the people that You have called us to be. And so help us Lord to be the Christians, the people of kindness that You have expressed and wanted. So give us an idea, an idea of something random that's never been thought of before, that's going to touch somebody who needs to be touched in a special way. We'll never know all the implications. We'll never understand all of the ripples of the wave that is created. The positive ripples. Because we did something nice for somebody. Now we thank You, Lord. Amen.