It seems to me that kindness is highly underrated, in short supply and sorely needed.
1 Cor. 13:4 - “…love is kind…”.
Gal. 5:22 - But the fruit of the Spirit is…kindness…".
Rom. 2:4 - “…God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance…”.
Eph. 4:32 - “Be kind and compassionate to one another…”.
What is Kindness?
Your thoughts.
I like this quote from Plato:
‘Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.’
Good stuff 
Somewhat counter-intuitively, kindness appears to be related to justice and righteousness. I just put a post up about this at my blog. It isn’t the most inspirational thing I’ve ever done, but I like this etymology stuff sometimes. I’ve been studying Romans and just couldn’t go any farther without doing some study on justice and righteousness – and here I found kindness right in there hobnobbing with the big boys! journeyintotheson.com/2012/1 … -are-they/
Hi Cindy, That’s a helpful word study, thanks! Understanding the biblical word tsedakah is vital if we are to avoid misunderstanding the bible writers and what God is up to in the world.
Hi Cindy - Enjoyed reading your blog. It is quite surprising to me that kindness appears to be related to justice and righteousness. I would have never imagined that to be the case.
that makes sense. kindness isn’t unjust, and would fight injustice…and kindness is righteous because righteousness is all about looking after each other and not hurting each other.
Amen! Amen! Corpselight and Cindy, also for sharing your blog, Cindy, thanks and for so much understanding and kindness in all your posts on on so many threads on the forum, inspirational!
Michael in Barcelona
Thanks Cindy - great blog and very illuninating definitions 
Not sure whether it’s helpful but there are three different kinds of justice -
Distributive jusitce - that’s making sure everyone gets their fair share (including lvoe and kindness)
Retributive justice - what peopel usually mean by ‘justice’; only vague thoughts on this but could be linked to the the necessity sometimes for ‘tough love’ or ‘cruel kindness’ (although I think some people press this paradox to a point where it becomes a contradiction)
Restorative justice - that’s healing jusitce, and always requires patience and kindness.
Flabby thoughts - but there we go 
And I’ve absolutely no idea if this threefold definition of justice is expresed in triplicate in Hebrew 
And great thread Joel Thanks to all for much kindness
Wow, thanks so much for all your kind words everyone. I’m glad it was helpful – any suggestions for part 2 would be greatly appreciated. I haven’t quite thought it all through yet.
And yes of course that’s definitely helpful, Dick. I might include something along those lines in my part 2 post. I hadn’t thought about it, but I think it would speak to a lot of people (if a lot of people ever read it! ). At least until we think about it, it’s hard for most of us to conceptualize anything but a retributive justice because that’s mostly what human justice is all about. It’s the best we can do, since we can’t often set things right. My husband and I had a conversation about that recently and it was really interesting – I thought – maybe not him so much, but he puts up with me at least, and is nice enough to pretend interest. 
Sobornost - Thanks for the clarification on Justice.
Cindy - Suggestion for Part 2 - A contrast and comparison of Grace, Justice & Kindness.
Hi Joel -
One final thought on ‘justice’. Now I’m no expert but I understand that the new interpretation of Paul (Krister Stendahll, Tom Wright etc) suggests that ‘jusitficaiton by faith’ is not only an individual thing - rather its also about the inclusion of the Gentiles in God’s covenant. So this is an issue of distributive justice - the messianic banquet being opened to all, and a restoration of fellowsip between Jews and Gentiles I guess. ‘In Chirst there is neither male nor female, Jew nor Gentile etc…’ affirms that we are all of the same ‘kind’ - redeemed by God in Christ (and this is the basis of our kindness/fellow feeling to each other)
Also in this new interpretation righteousness is not only viewd as an interior state; it is also about making things right - breaking down barriers and restoring fellowship between God and human beings, and between fellow human beings.
Perhaps someone who knows a bit more about this than me might care to contribute?
Dick