Our Most Overlooked Asset
OUR MOST OVERLOOKED ASSET?
By Rev. Tony Cooke
People who yearn to do God’s will and positively influence others are always looking for ways to increase their effectiveness. I believe one of the most essential characteristics we have at our disposal-kindness-has often been overlooked. There may be those who think of kindness as somehow inferior to seemingly more dynamic or spectacular gifts, but kindness is an attribute of God that can produce amazing results when it is released through us.
Bible commentator Alexander Maclaren said, "Kindness makes a person attractive. If you would win the world, melt it, do not hammer it." William Barclay echoed a similar sentiment when he noted, "More people have been brought into the church by the kindness of real Christian love than by all the theological arguments in the world."
Abraham Lincoln said, "I care not for a man’s religion whose dog and cat are not better off for it." In short, if your faith doesn’t translate into your being a nicer person, it hasn’t transformed you the way God desires. The ancient philosopher Plato emphasized the necessity of kindness when he said, "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle." Henry James remarked, "Three things in life are important: The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. The third is to be kind."
Most students of the Bible remember that there was a time when the Kingdom of Israel went through a split. The ten northern tribes (known as Israel) split from the two southern tribes (Judah and Benjamin). What many don’t recall, though, is the occasion for this split occurring. Solomon had died, and the people, because of the massive projects Solomon had led them in, were exhausted. They came to the new king, Reheboam, and essentially asked him to ease up on them a bit.
Reheboam first did a wise thing. He went and asked the older men, Solomon’s advisors, what he should do. They gave him this counsel: "If you are kind to these people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever" (2 Chronicles 10:7). If you recall the story, though, Reheboam rejected the wise counsel of the old men, and responded to the people harshly, roughly, and rudely. As a result, he lost ten of the twelve tribes he would have governed. Kindness would have been good for the people and good for Reheboam’s leadership, but he was oblivious to its significance.
True kindness is not an act or a facade we put on to manipulate others. Rather, it is rooted in having a genuine concern and interest in the welfare and well-being of people, and is expressed in demonstrating that care to others in tangible ways. Kindness is one of the most desirable attributes we can develop in our lives. Proverbs 19:22 says, "What is desired in a man is kindness." Abraham Heschel said, "When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people. Now I admire kind people."
Every believer would do well to embrace the philosophy by which William Penn lived: "I expect to pass through life but once. If, therefore, there can be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again." May God bless and help us all as we grow in kindness toward others.
Albert Einstein said, “Thinking like we always have is what got us where we are. It is not going to get us where we are going.” One of the great quests of life is simply to get from point A to point B—from where we are now to where we need to be. Of course, action is a huge part of the journey, but thinking the right thoughts is also essential. Many never progress because they never change the way they think. 
The eyes of the world have been on Japan for the last few weeks as it experienced a 9.0 earthquake, a tsunami that brought unimaginable devastation, and a nuclear incident that has been described as at least a partial meltdown. As these events unfolded, millions around the world have witnessed the pain and suffering of the Japanese people. As I observed these happenings, I also thought of how the relationship between the U.S.A. and Japan has changed over the past several decades, and how two nations have gone from being bitter enemies to friends and allies.
When a believer says, “I’m not under the law,” we usually assume that the person is really saying, “I’m not under the law of Moses.” This reflects an accurate understanding of Scripture. Even a casual study of Romans and Galatians will support this. For example, Paul was clearly speaking about the law of Moses when he wrote:
Charles Spurgeon and his wife owned chickens, and people noted that they never gave any of the eggs away, but would only sell them. Some people felt they should have been more generous and accused them of being stingy and greedy. The Spurgeons were aware of these rumblings and criticisms, but never responded. It was only after Mrs. Spurgeon had passed away that the full story was revealed—the profits from the sale of the eggs were used by the Spurgeons to support two elderly widows.
As I’ve traveled all over, it’s been interesting to see how people are handling the pressures and tensions in life. Just recently, an individual from the east coast told me, “People around here are on edge all the time.”
One thing is certain about ministry; it is not one-dimensional. Ministry requires that we be able to adapt ourselves and our methods to different people and to different situations. Consider some of the following Scriptures that express this necessity:
22 Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
It’s amazing how we can focus on certain aspects of Scripture at one point in our lives, only to see richer, broader, deeper thoughts in surrounding and complementary passages as we mature through time, growth, and experience.
As a young Bible school student, I heard Brother Hagin emphasize three major aspects of Jesus’ ministry that are mentioned in Matthew 9:35. “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” Brother Hagin would enumerate them, and we would often recite the concise summary with him: “Jesus went about teaching, preaching, and healing.”
A paradox involves the presentation of two ideas which seem to be contradictory, but are in fact, complementary. A few classic examples in Scripture of paradoxical statements are:
For the past several months, I have been reading the Old Testament slowly and systematically, and it has done my soul good. I have always majored on the New Testament, and I’m sure that this will always be the case; after all, that is OUR Covenant. But there has been something very rich and meaningful that I’ve been enjoying in mulling over God’s dealings with humanity prior to the coming of Jesus.
There is a great lesson for us in understanding the formation of pearls. Natural pearls are formed when a grain of sand or another object slips in between one of the two shells of the oyster. Because of the irritating nature of the sand, the oyster encapsulates it in layers of “mother of pearl” secretion, and the pearl grows in size as the number of layers increases and the iridescent gem is formed.
Perhaps you’ve heard about the little boy who was given an orange by a man. The boy’s mother asked, “What do you say to the nice man?” The little boy thought for a second, handed the orange back, and said, “Peel it.” There’s a little bit of gratitude lacking there, wouldn’t you say?
Many years ago at a church service, I gave an altar call and a handful of people responded; one of these being a boy in his early teens. I had a self-congratulatory thought as though I was somehow responsible for these responses. Reality came quickly as a dear lady approached and let me know how thankful she was that God had touched her grandson’s heart. This grandmother told me that she had been praying for years for her grandson to come to the Lord. I realized that “I” wasn’t the cause of this young man coming to the Lord at all. I had been privileged to have a role in the overall process, but the gospel, the Power of the Holy Spirit, and this lady’s prayers were the major components of the process that led to this glorious event.
I remember a decades-old television commercial from Memorex, a company that made cassette tapes. A glass was shown sitting on a table while the voice of Ella Fitzgerald was heard singing. When a certain high note was hit, the glass shattered and the viewer was asked, “Is it live, or is it Memorex?” The point is that the quality of their product was so high that taped recordings were essentially indistinguishable from the live voice.
There are two types of limitations. There are legitimate limitations that we should respect, and there are perceived limitations that we should transcend. Wisdom in life is knowing which limitations are valid and are to be respected, and which limitations are illusions that are meant to be conquered.
I’m curious. Who has defined reality for you? What is the basis for how you see yourself, the people around you, your circumstances, your destiny, and your world? How much of your sense of reality has been defined by your parents, your education, society, and the media? 
Jealousy is often thought of only in a negative light, and there has been no shortage of negative examples to reinforce such thinking. In its negative expression, ungodly jealousy is a carnal, ugly trait associated with insecurity, fear, covetousness, and suspicion. It was Shakespeare who called jealousy a “green-eyed monster.”
