Fruit of the Spirit: How to Grow in Kindness

During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:1-4)

Jesus tells us to do good without anyone knowing that we have done good. This will help us to have the right motive. We cannot be praised by people for doing good if they do not know about it. Instead, we will be doing it for God and out of a desire to really help someone in need.

This has been called the discipline of secrecy. John Ortberg describes this discipline this way, "Every once in a while do something good and try to make sure no one finds out about it."

This will help us to grow in kindness.