God is love, and he who dwells and continues in love dwells and continues in God, and God dwells and continues in him.
1 John 4:16b (AMPC)
Love endures long and is patient and kind…
1 Cor 13:4 (AMPC)
We read in 1 John 4:16b that God is love. He does not just feel love or express love or act in love, He is love. It is the very nature and core of who He is. He cannot be separated from love.
The very definition of love is found in 1 Corinthians 13 and in verse four we read that love is kind therefore we can say that God is kind. It is the very essence of who He is. He does not just show kindness but it is who He is. In many scriptures God’s kindness is described as loving-kindness. God’s kindness is so great that no words we use to describe it will even come close to how expansive it really is. All of what love is, is in His kindness, therefore loving-kindness. It is not just kindness but it is motivated by who God is Himself, love.
The Lord appeared from of old to me [Israel], saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you and continued My faithfulness to you.
Jer 31:3 (AMPC)
In Romans 2:4 it says that God’s loving-kindness leads us to repentance. It is part of God so it carries His power which is beyond any power we carry. In Jeremiah we read that God has drawn us which is, He has attracted us, He has pulled us with His loving-kindness. We can then say that loving-kindness is a force of attraction.
There are many forces of attraction in science and this is generally how they work. Every particle (atoms, molecules or ions) have kinetic energies which tend to keep them apart from each other. However there are attractive intermolecular forces between the particles that tend to draw them together. If the attractive forces are greater than the kinetic energies the particles will come together and form a liquid or solid substance. There are four main types of attractive intermolecular forces and collectively they are called cohesive forces.
Loving-kindness works just like physical cohesive forces except that it is much stronger and cannot be overcome because it is infused with the power of God’s Spirit as it originates in Him. It overcomes the negative in our world, it attracts those around us to Christ in us, it brings people together, it keeps people together and most importantly it brings people to repentance and therefore eternal life.
Put it into practice
Realise that no act of kindness is just random. It is the power of God in action to turn people towards Him. It is about eternity.