It Begins at Home

Be kind and compassionate to one another. —Ephesians 4:32

For most of us, the most difficult place to consistently demonstrate kindness is at home. Kindly making a donation to an agency asking for money for hunger relief is far easier than being kind to a husband, teen, elderly parent, or toddler who is clamoring for you to relieve their hunger.

In Titus 2:3–5, it says that older women should “encourage the young women . . . to be self-controlled, pure, workers at home, kind.” I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the directive to cultivate kindness comes immediately after the directive for women to give priority to working in their homes. You may be competent and faithful and work hard to manage your home, but Scripture challenges you to consider whether your actions and attitudes in the home flow out of a kind and good heart.

The Lord wants you to aim to improve your grade on your kindness report card, starting with family first—and particularly those family members whom you find the most difficult to love, whether you live under the same roof or not.

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True Woman 201: Interior Design, Ten Elements of Biblical Womanhood ©2015 Mary A. Kassian and Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible ®. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible ® and CSB ® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.