When Kindness Appeared

Paul could have taught on kindness by giving Titus a list of polite behaviors. Hold the door. Say thank you. Send a card. Those are good things. But Paul goes somewhere deeper. He starts with who we were, and then he tells us what God did. Kindness, in this passage, begins as something that happened to us.

Look at the before picture. “For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures,” Paul writes, “living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.” Paul includes himself. We too. That is not a description of the worst people you know. That is a description of all of us apart from Christ. Selfish. Enslaved. Bitter. Not exactly people who deserve kindness.

Then come two of the most beautiful words in the Bible: “But when.” “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us.” Kindness appeared. It came walking into the world in a Person. It touched lepers. It ate with sinners. It wept at a friend’s tomb. And then it went to a cross for people who were hating one another and hating God.

Paul is careful to say how this salvation came, “not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy.” You did not earn God’s kindness. Nobody does. That is what makes it kindness. If you had earned it, it would just be wages. God saved you through “the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,” the Spirit “He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” Abundantly. Not in a trickle. God was not stingy with you.

Here is why that matters for the fruit of kindness. The Spirit who was poured out on you is the same Spirit who grows kindness in you. You are not trying to be kind in a vacuum. You are passing on what you have received. Paul says elsewhere, “Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.” Just as. Kindness flows downhill from the cross.

So who in your life seems undeserving of your kindness? The neighbor whose dog barks all night. The relative who always makes the snide comment at Thanksgiving. The coworker who is just plain rude. Remember the before picture. You were foolish and hateful too, and God was kind to you. That does not mean you excuse every wrong. It means you stop measuring out kindness only to people who have earned it.

Kindness is often small and practical. It is bringing coffee to the guy who never says thanks. It is a soft answer when you could win the argument. It is noticing the new person at church who is standing alone. It is driving your elderly neighbor to her appointment. None of these will make the news. All of them look like Jesus.

And here is the end of the passage. Because of His grace we have been justified, and we are now “heirs with the hope of eternal life.” Rich people can afford to be generous. In Christ, you are rich beyond counting. You can afford to be kind today. Spend some of that grace on someone who needs it, and watch how the Spirit uses it.