{"id":21420,"date":"2017-06-18T00:10:17","date_gmt":"2017-06-18T07:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lccredding.com\/lcc\/?p=11019"},"modified":"2017-06-18T00:10:17","modified_gmt":"2017-06-18T07:10:17","slug":"june-18-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2017\/06\/18\/june-18-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"June 18, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cAnd the King will answer and say to them, \u2018Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.\u2019\u201d<\/em> Matthew 25:40<\/span><\/p>\n

Kindnesses<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

My mother, now in her 80\u2019s, was feeling well enough to attend her little community church last Sunday. Several gentlemen offered her their arm on which to walk in and out. I can tell you as a daughter who lives too far away to offer her my own arm, I was extremely grateful for the kindnesses shown to her.<\/span><\/p>\n

All too often, we look for the Big Ministry, the Important Job, the Visible Calling. We may feel unimportant if we aren\u2019t well known for our works in our churches, as if what we are doing is less-than.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But Jesus puts a lot of emphasis on daily kindnesses. Helping to carry someone\u2019s burden. Giving a cup of cold water in His Name. Sharing a fish and a loaf. Visiting one who is ill or experiencing some kind of imprisonment. Praying. Making life more livable for someone. Making their way a little easier, right now, today.<\/span><\/p>\n

We see this trait in God, of course. \u201cBut You are God, ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in kindness\u2026\u201d<\/em> Nehemiah 9:17b<\/span><\/p>\n

We aren\u2019t all called to teach, to preach, to lead. But we are all called to be kind. Every one of us can lighten someone\u2019s load in some way. We can touch a shoulder, give a tender look, offer a gentle word of encouragement, a smile.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1895, Frederic Farrar wrote these words: \u201cThe little gifts of our poverty, the small services of our insignificance, the barley loaves of the Galilean boy on the desert plain, the one talent of poor, dull persons like ourselves, are despised by the world. But they are also dear. They are accepted. They will be infinitely rewarded by Him who gives the conies their homes in the rocks, who knows every sparrow\u2019s fall; who numbers the very hairs of our heads; who builds the vast continents by the toil of the coral insect, and by His grains of sand stays the raging of the sea.\u201d Small things are incomprehensibly huge in God\u2019s kingdom.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of us have heard a story or two about how kindness shown to them eventually drew them to the Lord. We\u2019d love to read in the Comment section how a kindness shown to you comforted you or even changed your life. We encourage you to share this with all our readers. Just by writing your comment, something you may consider a very small ministry, someone\u2019s life may be changed. It would be a kindness, it won\u2019t cost you a thing, and you may well be rewarded by the King on that Day.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGracious Lord, You teach us by example to be kind. Help us to see what we can do today to show kindness. In Jesus\u2019 Name, Amen.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnd the King will answer and say to them, \u2018Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-5zu","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}