Good is a rather broad and vague word that can mean many things. For example, if we only look at the first part of the verse above, we may want to assume that good means easy or pleasant. However, if you take note of the second part about being called to purpose, we will realize this is not a self-centered form of good. Fortunately, the original Greek gives us some insight. That indicates a beneficial form of good.
So if we go back just a few chapters, we find this. “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. -Romans 5:3-4
While character and hope are certainly beneficial. It also reveals that we may have to suffer to obtain that benefit. So this good that Paul speaks of in Romans 8 is not necessarily easy or pleasant.
I bring this up because we have a similar conundrum in the 21st century with the word "kind." Both progressive politics and certain segments of the church have adopted a mantra of “be kind and accept everybody,” As if this is our only goal, because that alone should fix everything. All because there is a similar false assumption behind it. That kindness is always easy and pleasant. Let me put this into perspective with a few quotes.
“Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become independent of it.” -John D Rockefeller
Providing for the poor may be good in the short term. Yet if it only enables generational poverty, it is far from beneficial. Education is not easy, and maturing is not always pleasant, but it is a benefit in the long run when it delivers us from poverty. So who is kinder in the end? The one who only supplies your needs on a day-by-day basis, keeping you dependent on them for their good? Or the one who prepares you to fulfill your own needs, so you can live independently of charity?
“Certainly, no sane person enjoys hurting another. But we must be willing to risk hurting one another as well as being hurt, if we are to bear life to our relationships. A surgeon, for example, is not a knife-wielding thief. In fact, what surgeons do intentionally causes pain—and we pay them to do it, because we all agree that the immediate pain of the operation is preferable to the long-range pain of continued illness.” -Gordon Dalby
True healing often comes very painfully. This is true of not just flesh, but of emotions, and the spirit as well. Yet under this “be kind” mantra, we are unwilling to risk questioning anyone for any reason so as not to hurt their feelings. Only to allow these spiritual cancers to fester and destroy us slowly from within. Again, what is most important here? Short-term delicate politeness, or long-term and unpleasant emotional healing?
Here is the caveat. This directly follows the last verse. “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” -Romans 5:5
To maintain the healing metaphor, shame is like performing surgery without anesthesia. So it’s only natural to distance ourselves from the excessive and unnecessary pain of shame, even if it’s supposedly intended for good. Shame is a poor motivator that way. Yet I see so many on both sides of the fence trying to reshape the world by shaming people into submission. Hence, people embracing this “be kind” mantra. Even if they are just as willing to wield shame like a madman with a machete, if you don’t apply kindness the same way that they do. Hence my title, be kind. . . or else! Such people are not really following the Spirit of love this way, despite their claims to the contrary.
Ultimately, God's discipline is there to help us succeed, not to condemn anyone. We should have the same attitude towards others. But if we take more pleasure in shaming people in our self-righteousness than helping them to succeed, we are only serving our pride, not God’s truth.
“Let a righteous man strike me—that is a kindness; let him rebuke me—that is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it, for my prayer will still be against the deeds of evildoers.” -Psalms 141:5
“Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become independent of it.” -John D Rockefeller
Providing for the poor may be good in the short term. Yet if it only enables generational poverty, it is far from beneficial. Education is not easy, and maturing is not always pleasant, but it is a benefit in the long run when it delivers us from poverty. So who is kinder in the end? The one who only supplies your needs on a day-by-day basis, keeping you dependent on them for their good? Or the one who prepares you to fulfill your own needs, so you can live independently of charity?
“Certainly, no sane person enjoys hurting another. But we must be willing to risk hurting one another as well as being hurt, if we are to bear life to our relationships. A surgeon, for example, is not a knife-wielding thief. In fact, what surgeons do intentionally causes pain—and we pay them to do it, because we all agree that the immediate pain of the operation is preferable to the long-range pain of continued illness.” -Gordon Dalby
True healing often comes very painfully. This is true of not just flesh, but of emotions, and the spirit as well. Yet under this “be kind” mantra, we are unwilling to risk questioning anyone for any reason so as not to hurt their feelings. Only to allow these spiritual cancers to fester and destroy us slowly from within. Again, what is most important here? Short-term delicate politeness, or long-term and unpleasant emotional healing?
Here is the caveat. This directly follows the last verse. “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” -Romans 5:5
To maintain the healing metaphor, shame is like performing surgery without anesthesia. So it’s only natural to distance ourselves from the excessive and unnecessary pain of shame, even if it’s supposedly intended for good. Shame is a poor motivator that way. Yet I see so many on both sides of the fence trying to reshape the world by shaming people into submission. Hence, people embracing this “be kind” mantra. Even if they are just as willing to wield shame like a madman with a machete, if you don’t apply kindness the same way that they do. Hence my title, be kind. . . or else! Such people are not really following the Spirit of love this way, despite their claims to the contrary.
Ultimately, God's discipline is there to help us succeed, not to condemn anyone. We should have the same attitude towards others. But if we take more pleasure in shaming people in our self-righteousness than helping them to succeed, we are only serving our pride, not God’s truth.
“Let a righteous man strike me—that is a kindness; let him rebuke me—that is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it, for my prayer will still be against the deeds of evildoers.” -Psalms 141:5
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| The sword is a Biblical symbol of God's authority. The significance of a double-edged sword is that one edge always points towards self. We have no business holding others accountable to a standard we don't hold ourselves to. Accountability makes us less hasty in drawing blood, so to speak. |
