‘Kindness Without a Catch’

Daily Devotional – March 23, 2021

“Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them! If you only love the lovable, do you expect a pat on the back? Run-of-the-mill sinners do that. If you only help those who help you, do you expect a medal? Garden-variety sinners do that. If you only give for what you hope to get out of it, do you think that’s charity? The stingiest of pawnbrokers does that.” (Luke 6:31-34, MSG)

We live in an age when people have become suspect of kindness. When someone acts with generosity, the first thing on other people’s minds is, “What’s the catch?” Demonstrating kindness for the sake of kindness is a lost art. But the fact of the matter is that kindness for any other reason is not really kindness at all; people have become automatically suspicious of kindness because they have experienced too many counterfeits. So, what is the determining factor? What designates a generous act as kindness or not? Motivation! Any expectation of reciprocity, of any kind, undermines our acts of kindness, reducing them to manipulative tactics.
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For those who claim a relationship with God, kindness is one of the character traits that the Holy Spirit grows in us as His fruit. It is not dependent on personal cost, how it will be received or if we will ever see kindness returned to us. It is to be who we are not simply how we act on occasion when it suits us. I wonder how our kind acts would be received then? Generosity with no strings attached. Compassion with no expectation of reciprocity. Kindness with a catch.
~ Pastor Jane