Blog Series: Godly Character-Kindness

Photo Credit: Bailey Anne

(Part 1 of the Godly Character series.)

 “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”-Colossians 3:12-13

Kindness. What comes to mind when you think of this word? I don’t know why but I think of someone sticking up for someone who has been belittled. I think that’s one of the most kind things a person could do.

I saw an act of kindness a few days ago. I was driving and talking on the phone (headphones in of course). As I was talking to my Dad, I saw an elderly man who was stuck in the bushes in his front lawn. I freaked out because it made me so sad but my heart flipped when I saw a young man park his car suddenly and run up to help him.

You know who was the King of Kindness? Jesus.

The biggest act of kindness that Christ showed was laying His life down for you and I.

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brother. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”-1 John3:16-18

What a ridiculously amazing verse! I could read this over and over. Friends, His death showed His love. HE DIED FOR US. Don’t you see how kind He is. We are full of ugly sin, yet he was/is loving and full of kindness. He wanted to take all the dirt away. Now that we have seen an example of love and kindness, John wanted us to actually learn from it and go out and show love and kindness. He tells them to “stop telling people you love them but actually show them!”

Example 2 of kindness (Luke 10:25-37):

An expert in the law asks Jesus how he can receive eternal life. Jesus tells him “Well what does it say in the Law?” The man says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” Jesus says “You’re correct! Do this and you’ll live.” But the expert asks “Well, who is my neighbor?”  So Jesus decides to share a parable. He talks about a man going down to Jericho when he ran into some robbers. They stripped his clothes, beat him, and left him half dead. A priest walked by but he passed by the man. A Levite saw the man but passed by. But a Samaritan  came up to the man and took pity on him. He bandaged his wounds and put the man on his own donkey. They traveled to an inn and the Samaritan took care of the man. Jesus asks the expert who he thought was a neighbor to the man. The expert said that the man who had mercy on the man was the one. Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

This parable reminds me of the story I shared with you. Who knows how many people drove by and thought “Oh, someone will help him the old guy.” But yet one man decided to get off the road and help the man. That’s kindness. The word tells us that we need “go and do likewise” just like the Samaritan. It tells us that we need to show our love but our “actions and in truth.” As Christians, we have a lot to do on this earth. We need to be the kind, loving people out in this world of rude, mean, jealous folk.

How are you being kind? Are you going out and being like the Samaritan? How are you “laying your life down”? I pray that you ask God to give you situations in your life that you can be kind to them. Maybe kindness is something you lack. Pray for God to help remold your heart.

“But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High,because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”-Luke 6:35

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”-Ephesians 4:32

I’d love to chat more about this series with you & any other things on your mind. Find me on Twitter @sarahhhvictoria .

Bailey Anne? Let me tell you about her…

Photo Credit: Bailey Anne

Friends, let me tell you a story. I was on Instagram about 2 weeks ago when I was randomly searching through hashtags then BOOM, I found Bailey. I instantly fell in love with her pictures. So I clicked the love button on the pictures that I truly loved (trust me, I could of pressed the love button on them all but I didn’t want to feel like a stalker) and decided to comment her telling her that I would love to use her pictures for bytheirfruit. She instantly said yes! So I decided that I would share a little bit of info about Bailey Anne!

At only 15 years old, Bailey has a beautiful eye for photography. At a young age, she owned a pink and green Barbie Polaroid camera and started taking pictures with it. Bailey became interested in photography when she knew that she didn’t have the patience for painting. Her entire family, except for her dad, are painters. She didn’t like how paintings took forever to create and she didn’t think her paintings were realistic. She realized that photography was the way to go. “Photography is a way for me to paint an image better than I am ever going to be to with a brush” explained Bailey.  Bailey enjoys taking pictures of vintage-y items and places. She loves taking pictures of her grandparent’s house and antique stores. One of her very favorite items to photograph are antique Coke bottles ( I loved the pictures that she took of the Coke bottles!) She says she wouldn’t call herself a photographer. She gave me a list of what her dream jobs were. She would love to be a missionary, mother, an astronaut (she dislikes math though), an actress, singer, writer and maybe the first female president. She ultimately said that she wants to make a difference. She knows that God has a plan for her and that she will follow where He leads.

Random Facts:
-Only 15
-Just got her permit, yet driving scares her to death (I think we all felt that way, right?)
-Left handed
-Taken ballet for 12 years
-She loves singing. She has been in choir since elementary school.
-Loves napping! (ME TOO!!!!)
-Used to read a novel everyday.
-She lives in the south but dislikes sweet tea (I dislike it too!)
-She is very involved with her church (helps with the Afternoon School Assistance Program, sings on the praise tam, and attends bible studies and fellowships).
-She knows her purpose is: To love God and love others. “The loving others part can be challenging, but prayerfully Christ living through me is what people see.

Favorite Verse: Philippians 1:6

 “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

She says she isn’t the most confidant person in the world but she knows that she can be confidant that her life has a good work being done in her. This verse truly encourages her.

Please check out her Instagram (@pinkpolkadots6), Instacanvas site (Click here) and her Twitter @bumsrock6 ! I’m thoroughly excited to be using her pictures for upcoming posts!

My dear friends.

Can I just thank you reading my blog? THANK YOU! You have no idea how blessed I’ve been from your comments, the number of views I get, and the follows on Twitter. I’m blessed to say that God truly gave me a gift (even though I feel like I write like a 5 year old).

Whats been up: I’m working part time but I practically have full time hours (thank the Lord!!!) so once I get home, I’m beat! I’m trying my hardest to write as much as possible.I found a great photographer on Instagram and I’m so excited to share her pictures with you! Her name is Bailey and I fell in love with her eye for photography. I will be using a lot of her photos in my next blog posts.

Something else that I’m working on is guest blog posts on other blogs and sites. I swear, I’m crazy to be writing 3 blogs at a time but it’s fun 🙂

Follow me on Twitter @sarahhhvictoria 🙂

What if Jesus had a Twitter?

What if Jesus had a Twitter? What would He tweet about?

“Yep, just turned water into wine. NBD (No Big Deal)”
or
“Read my Father’s Word! Let His Word fill you up”
or
“Follow me?”

I’m pretty positive that Jesus would have more followers than Ashton Kutcher and even the fake Jesus on Twitter. Yet, I feel as though the ones who followed Jesus on Twitter would not actually read His tweets or place His tweets on their hearts. So many people aren’t ready for the truth. They want to live their lives still stuck in the world & not actually following Christ and living out His Word. Trust me, I’m not the perfect Christian. Sometimes I want to live in the world as well. People will “follow” Him but not actually follow him. You know what I mean?

I follow up to 200 people on Twitter. Some people tweet “Check out this new band.” Never do. “New restaurant on 10th. You stomach will thank you.” Never do. “#FF @blahblahblah @thisguy @this girl.” You’re correct, I never do. But what if  Jesus tweeted this?

“Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”-Luke 9:23

Everyday we should deny ourselves. I’m not saying you wake up and say “Self, you are not Sarah (insert your name). You are not a person. You do not like cucumbers (insert whatever you like).” 1 Corinthians 1:30 says “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” So we are IN CHRIST.

Denying ourselves mean that we surrender our lives to Him for His will. We throw off anything in our lives that would hinder our relationship with Christ. When we take up our cross, we are taking on the burdens just as Jesus did. As he bore the cross, we are as well. We are to dedicate our lives to Him. Don’t forget that taking our crosses is a daily thing. After all this, follow Him.

His Word is better than a 140 character tweet. Indulge in His word & soak it.

“Accept instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart.”-Job 22:22

Do you just want to follow Him on Twitter or legitimately follow Him?