Kindness is a display of charitable behavior towards someone, while love means a profound and caring affection towards someone. Clearly, kindness and love don’t mean the same thing. Kindness is what one shows to the outsider, while love is for the insiders. It’s not rightly acceptable to say you are kind to your own children. You simply love them. You are to be kind to someone out there but loving to your own family. Thus, love is certainly of a higher value than kindness.

The prodigal son’s elder brother only knew and lived on their father’s kindness. He never knew nor understood their father’s love. He kept doing many things to please the father who was already pleased with him. On the day his brother returned home, the Scripture apprises to us that he was in the field till quite a later time of the day, whereas the main servants were already at home. One would wonder what he was doing out there all alone. By living only on his dad’s kindness, he only could SOMEDAY expect to receive a kid goat from his dad, when everything, including the fatted calf which was later killed for his brother, was for him to enjoy had he understood his dad’s love.

Hmm, it’s sad to know that many children of God are living exactly like this prodigal son’s older brother. They only know of God’s kindness, never His love all their life. They relate with Papa God as His hired servants when they are actually His beloved children. And mere kindness never gets anybody the best, only love does, always. God is kind toward everybody but especially loves His own children. You may have started on God’s kindness, as we all somehow do, but you don’t remain there. You need to move on to knowing and receiving God’s love that you may experience and enjoy God’s best in life henceforth.

The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

Jeremiah 31:3

Funmi P. Adebayo is a preacher of the gospel of Christ and believes that His gospel covers everything, as God is God of all things without an exemption at all. God has helped him found a ministry by the name, THE SIMPLE LIFE OF CHRIST MINISTRY (AKA THE RESTING PLACE), the platform through which God’s Spirit is helping him to reach out to the world with the simple message of Jesus Christ and by the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, which is solely for the defense and the confirmation of the same gospel of Christ.