July 11, 2018

I am always excited to see what God is doing in the lives of young men who feel called to serve the Lord. It is not a one time decision, or even a monthly responsibility. It is a moment by moment, day by day walk with the Lord. I have asked for our pastoral staff and summer interns to share a devotion from each of them of what God is doing in their lives. I look forward to these next few days. As you read each of these devotions, may it remind you to faithfully pray for each one of these men.

I AM PERSUADED THAT HE IS ABLE

TO REMIND US OF THE LITTLE THINGS

Proverbs 3:3
3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:

Random acts of kindness are selfless acts performed by kind people to either help or cheer up a random stranger, for no reason other than to make people happier. That is the definition of the phrase we’ve all heard for several years. I experienced this firsthand a couple of weeks ago. Jace and I were out running a few errands, when I decided it would be a good idea to stop for some ice cream. We were standing in line at Cold Stone (don’t get me started on how much better Cold Stone is than the freeze dried, rolled ice cream.) We ordered, the girl behind the counter handed us our order, and said “Sir your ice cream has been paid for already.” Obviously, I was surprised, and I expected to see a church member I hadn’t seen to be standing in line, but I didn’t see anyone that I recognized. I found out it was the lady standing at the front of the line, so Jace and I walked up to her to thank her, and I asked her the question, “why did you choose to pay for our ice cream?” Her answer was “I felt impressed to do something kind for you, and your son, now promise me you will do the same for someone else.” As a youth pastor my mind immediately went to spiritual application.
When Jesus died on the cross for me, he did something kind for me. When I accepted Christ as my savior He essentially said to me “now do something kind for someone else.” We all know it’s a part of the Great Commandment that Jesus gave in Matthew 22 to “Love thy neighbor.” We all want to think of ourselves as nice people. We smile, are polite to our waitress, even give her a generous tip, we make small talk with the cashier at Walmart, we hold doors open for people, we’re nice people. Did you know that there is a difference in being nice, and being kind?
Nice- pleasant; agreeable; satisfactory.
Kind- warmth, gentleness, concern, care
What’s the difference you ask? The last word for the definition of kind, the word care. Now I don’t know if the lady who bought my ice cream truly cared or not, but I think that there is a lesson here for us as God’s people. That lesson is this, as Solomon, in all of his wisdom gave the advice, that in the midst of our daily lives, all the things we have to do, all the different ministries we serve in, everything we have going on let’s not forget about being kind to people, showing God’s love to people. Let’s be more than just nice to people, let’s be kind to people, and truly take an interest in them, and care about them. Being nice to someone can change their day, but being kind to someone can change their life, maybe even their eternity.

Frank Newsome Jr.