Hey, my friends, it's Matt. This is the Ten Minute Bible Hour Podcast. And this might be a weird episode. We're talking about kindness. We're up to kindness as a fruit of the spirit in Galatians chapter five. We're talking about all of this stuff that Paul is listing out as kind of his constructive proposal here at the end of the book to be like, all right, we talked about everything y'all are getting wrong. What does it look like to get it right? So if, on the one hand, the basic approach that everybody takes to everything in life to getting everything you want is the power of the flesh, the body, your life, your physical body, and your own effort. But Paul is saying through the course of Galatians, this life by the spirit thing is where it's actually at. This is what deliverance from outside the system looks like. And this is what sustenance from outside the system looks like. It's from God, it's from the presence of God in our lives. And yeah, it's a complex idea. And yeah, it can be kind of intimidating to think about it. And yeah, it's kind of freaky to imagine sort of taking your hands off the wheel a little bit. And the idea of the spirit being kind of in charge and leading us through life with God, but that's what it is. So in the course of Paul fleshing out what that looks like, he's given us this list of the attributes, the stuff from God that grows in us as we walk by the Spirit. So we got love, we got joy, we got peace, we got patience, now we got kindness. And just like every other word on this list so far, there is there are two meanings here. One meaning is whatever the Bible means when it says it, and the other meaning is whatever it means at any given moment in any given culture as people are currently using it. So what's the deal with kindness? Well, to work that through, I would like to tell you the brief story of my relationship with a pop song. And this is the part that I think it might get weird, maybe it'll work. I don't know. We're fixing to find out. When I got done being a pastor at this church in western Wyoming that I was at for a long time, it was a great experience. It started great, it middled great, it ended great, it was just great. I missed the people, I missed the church. I don't know that I'm ever going to do work like that again because it is murder on your heart when you move on from that. I mean, maybe it's a different kind of heart murder when you move on under bad circumstances because you're stewing about stuff all the time, but I can't even cook up reasons to be mad about that, to craft some narrative to make me feel better about not living there and not going to that church anymore. There's just nothing to be mad about. The people were amazing. We did something weird and cool and orthodox and great that I love that I got to be a part of, and I love that I got to raise my kids for half of their childhood in that context. I do miss the town and I do miss the people, but also, hey, chapters in life, right, bro? Like sometimes you just you turn the page, it's time for the next thing. And that's kind of what happened there. But it was hard for me. It was hard for me on a lot of levels. I I hinted at it earlier, I guess. Like, I don't know that I'm gonna ever do that kind of work again. And part of the reason that I don't know that I'm gonna do it is because I can't stand the leaving. And that still sticks with me. So I'm in the process of grieving several years ago, a choice that I made to move on from a church and a bunch of people who I really care about. You don't really get to take most of those relationships with you when you go as a pastor. You kind of get out of the way, and the next person grabs the reins and needs to occupy that role socially and spiritually and all of that stuff. Still, so many people made an effort with me, and I appreciate that too. But still, you know, it was just it was lonely as we were leaving, packing up stuff and moving to Rapid City, South Dakota. Rapid City seemed like the right place to go. It's my ancestral home. My mom and my grandparents are from here. My dad and my grandparents on his side and beyond are from here. They met a few miles down the road at college. Mom graduated from high school here. I mean, there's just all this history here. And so, yeah, we ended up in Rapid City, and that was cool. And here I am, just me and the internet and my family making new friends. And at that time, politics were incredibly stupid. I'm not saying they're particularly smart now either, but I don't know, it's just been a rough stretch, my friends, right? Can we can we say that apolitically and just admit this has been a real weird stretch? Our brains weren't ready, our hearts weren't ready, humanity wasn't ready for social media and the internet and all of the power that has come with it. This is the weirdest time ever in history. We've got some stuff right. It's been pretty clunky too. I think everybody's heart hurts in very new, unprecedented ways right now because of the very devices that we're unwilling to part ways with, the very devices that make our reality work also injure us. They also deaden some beautiful part of us that I think we miss, especially if you're old enough to remember the time before all of this. And our weirdness with the internet is bled over and it's manifesting in our politics, and we're not great to each other. And this is where it comes back around to this idea of kindness, and in particular, this pop song that it came onto my radar about the time that I was leaving Lander during a time of turmoil in the world and moving to Rapid City, South Dakota, and starting up this podcast. And somewhere in there I come across this song that feels like it was written by somebody who was kind of going through some of the same stuff I was. It's a dude named Frank Turner. I don't know much about him other than I like his voice. It's just it's sort of innocent and sweet and gentle, and yeah, there's a softness and a kindness to it that I really appreciate. And he wrote this song called Be More Kind. I think it probably came out in 2019 or 2020. Maybe it's older than that. I don't know. I didn't check the timeline on it. This story is basically true, even if my chronology isn't exactly perfect. And so I have a pretty tender heart at that point, anyway. And along comes this little Frank Turner song. And the song is about him feeling anxiety about the future and what's coming up next, and him feeling kind of shaken about what he understood the world to be when he was a kid and how things are turning out. And the I don't know if I don't know if he and I think many of the same things politically, or if we thought the same things then or different now, or I have no idea. What I know is the song is very heartfelt, it's very genuine, it's very kind. And indeed, the chorus is just about exactly that. I guess the chorus and he just sings this gentle thing. He just sings, in a world that has decided that it's going to lose its mind, be more kind, my friends. Try to be more kind. Except it sounds good when he sings it, and it sounds very honest and very sincere. And I listened to that at one point, and I just bawled over it. It struck a chord. You know what it's like, right? Sometimes a song will just strike a chord with you just perfectly. That doesn't make me cry every time I hear it now. But yeah, at the time that it was very moving to me, I was so in the mood for kindness. I missed the warmth and the kindness of the community of faith I had been a part of that I voluntarily chose to leave. I was kind of kicking myself, like, yeah, what are you doing here, man? That's hard to replace, dude. Are you sure? And then the world was crazy and and maybe still is a little bit. And it was just it was heavy. And I appreciated this simple plea for kindness. Now, look, I know people mean different things when they say kind right now. A lot of times, kindness or like people need to just be nicer, they need to be kinder, is code for I think your politics are unkind and mean. I think my politics are kind, therefore I want kindness, and by that I mean you should like my politics. I know that some people use it in kind of that not self-aware, juvenile, even emotionally manipulative way, but I'm not talking about that. I felt like this song, at least the way I chose to listen to it, squared with what I catch when I see words like kindness in the Bible, in a list, like in the fruit of the spirit. And when I see that idea of kindness in the Bible, to me, one of the attached virtues that goes along with that is the self-awareness, awareness of one's own circumstances. I mean, what is kindness born out of, right? Empathy to some degree. And again, not empathy the way it's sometimes cheaply and emotionally manipulatively used now. But I mean like real empathy, like the kind of thing where you look at another person, you're like, hey, you're kind of made of the same stuff I am. And I can kind of imagine what it would be like to be you. And that makes me care about how things work out for you. And it might even make me do something here or there, just show an extra degree of consideration. I mean, it's sort of from the same family tree of virtue as uh being patient and being forgiving, right? Ah, I need to be forgiven for stuff so I can imagine what it's like to get things wrong and really genuinely feel embarrassed and bad about it and wish I could take something back, uh, to feel kind of ashamed of my lack of social sense or self-awareness, and just want people to see the little boy inside who's trying to get things right and would really like to help people and would really like to be liked by other people. You know, I can imagine what that feels like for me, and I can kind of see it on you, so it results in kindness. To me, it seems like so much of kindness in the truest sense just flows out of that awareness that you're dealing with people who are made in the image of God, who are also subject to the fall of humanity, maybe screwed up in some different ways than I'm screwed up, but probably screwed up in some of the same ways I'm screwed up, equally in need of a deliverer and a savior that is from beyond the power of the flesh. And I guess when I see kindness at its best in people I admire, that's what it's born out of. An eyes wide open kind of awareness and alertness to other people, a valuing of other people, a cherishing of what has been given to them that makes them want that same thing to be given to other people, even strangers. And I thought Frank Turner, in this little song that I hope you will go and check out for yourself, I thought that he did a nice job of capturing that feeling, that sense. Lyrically, yeah, probably, tonally, yeah. Big time I felt that from him. And at least for me and where I was when I first encountered it, I felt like this Frank Turner fellow, someone about whom I know basically nothing, did a nice job of capturing that tone, that heart of kindness, as I understand it from the Bible, and that grace-filled core out of which true kindness flows. Told you this was gonna be a weird one. You're also gracious, you're also kind to take the version of me that you get on a daily podcast, because overwhelmingly, this does happen in real time. So where my head is at is what we do together as we work through this. So thanks for understanding me. And also I get the impression you give a rip about me. Thanks for caring about me and my family too. I really appreciate that. I hope you can tell that even over the distance, I feel the same way about you. I think that's good for now. I'm Matt. This is a 10-minute Bible hour podcast. Let's do this again soon.