Be Kind and Filled with Good

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In Episode 5 of Season 3, Desireé digs into the fruits of kindness and goodness. Where they begin and how they flourish in this world. Fair warning, this episode is heavy and it’s coming for our hearts. It calls on the book of Romans for some heavy-hitting truth on kindness and goodness. You will be so glad you tuned in!

 Topics include:

• Kindness begins with us (3:38) and gets extended toward others (4:19)
• Truth bomb on kindness (7:06)
• Genesis and Romans show us biblical goodness (9:11)

 

Join Desireé as she uses her trips around the sun to throw encouragement around like confetti!

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Episode Transcript

Desireé Melfi Bozzo (00:00):
Ciao and welcome to Life out loud. I am

(00:00):
your host Desireé Melfi Bozzo.
We are going to use this spaceto share experiences and help
you find lasting unshakableunwavering unmissable with joy
and gratitude. We're going to bethrowing around encouragement, a
littleCiao friends and welcome to

(00:30):
episode 5 of season 3 of theLife Out Loud podcast. I am the
creator of this podcast in yourhost, Desireé Melfi Bozzo. Thank
you for spending your time inthis space with me today. Our
time is our most valuablecommodity and it's one that I
don't take lightly. So thankyou, I hope this message is

(00:52):
fruitful in your life. Speakingof fruit, as you may know, this
season, we're making our waythrough the fruits of the Spirit
found in Galatians 5 in theBible. The fruits and how much
of them we are bearing are agood barometer for our lives. So
if you aren't familiar withthem, head back to the first
episode of this season. And takea quick listen, it's going to

(01:15):
give you the foundationalknowledge that you'll need to
live your best life and bearamazing fruit. If you've been
hanging around in the space forseason three, you know that
Galatians 5 tells us that thefruits of the Spirit are love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness,goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self control.

(01:38):
Today, we're smack dab in themiddle of that list talking
about kindness and goodness.
Now sometimes I feel like andmaybe I don't know, maybe you're
like me. Sometimes you feel likeif I paid too much attention to
the headlines, I can start tobelieve the lie that the world
is unkind. Does anyone else outthere do this? I do this. Me,

(02:01):
it's me. I'm raising my hand. Ithink back on all my formative
years of schooling and all I canremember our teachers
emphasizing the importance ofkindness, I find myself doing
this in parenting our son, wehave often heard ourselves tell
him it's better to be kind thanit is to be literally anything

(02:23):
else in this world. It's notjust something we say to raise a
good and sweet boy, it'ssomething in our home, we really
believe. I think we can allclose our eyes. And think of a
person who's kind, just a kind,good, human. And a lot of times
with that kindness comes otherfruits. I think people who

(02:46):
embody the fruit of kindness arethe people who meet people where
they are. And we can meet peoplewhere they are in showing
kindness because God meets uswhere we are over and over and
over. He has since the beginningof time. Since that first moment
that he was with us in thegarden. I think at the fall of

(03:07):
mankind, a fall that broke theheart of God, He disciplined us
and we lost the ability to dwelltogether in the garden with the
Lord. But even in his punishmentwith us, he was still kind. He
has continued for generationafter generation to show His

(03:28):
beloved people, His kindness,even in our brokenness and our
sin. I think this is somethingprofound that each of us can
take and apply in our lives. Myfriends, kindness begins with
us. It begins literally withourself, meeting ourselves where
we are in this moment inhistory. We start here and we

(03:50):
show ourself kindness regardlessof where our life is, at the
moment. Maybe when we look atour life, it's where we always
thought it would be, right, wealways thought we'd be this age
doing this thing with thesepeople. Maybe it's not, perhaps
more often than not, maybe it'snot. But either way, we get to
treat ourselves kindly about it.
It's in this kind acceptancethat we can create

(04:14):
possibilities. After we starttreating ourselves with
kindness, we get to turn thatkindness outward toward others.
We get to meet people where theyare and be kind. This doesn't
mean liking or accepting theactions of others. And it
doesn't mean letting people offthe hook for bad behavior. It
doesn't mean any of that. But itdoes mean showing people

(04:36):
kindness, because that's whatJesus showed us. When we put our
faith in Jesus it means at everypass doing things to imitate the
model of kindness He showed us.
Now want to pause here I want toacknowledge something. It is
super easy to be kind to peoplewe like. But what about the ones

(04:58):
we don't, how do I say this?
What about the ones we don'tentirely enjoy? Because that's a
real thing, right? What can wedo with the ones that it's hard
to show kindness to? Well, likeI do, I asked that question. And
then I started digging. I peekedover at the Old Testament, and
then I peeked over at the NewTestament. And I looked in Mark,

(05:21):
because that shows Jesus as aservant, and I looked at Luke
because that shows Jesus as aman. But then I settled into
Romans. It's right after thebook of Acts. And just before
First Corinthians. Interestinglyenough, one of the themes of
Romans is the importance ofunity. And this, my friends, is

(05:41):
where kindness to those we don'tentirely enjoy comes in.
Paul was writing Romans to thechurch in Rome, but he could
have been writing this to ustoday, like literally today.

Romans (05:58):
1-4 says, You therefore have no excuse you who pass
judgment on someone else, whereat whatever point you judge
another, you are condemningyourself, because you who pass
judgmentdo the same things. Oh,that was convicting to my little
heart. Verse 2 continues, thatwas only verse one, verse two

(06:18):
continues. Now we know thatGod's judgment against those who
do such things is based ontruth. So when you mere human,
pass judgment on them, and yetdo the same things, do you think
you will escape God's judgment?
Or do you show contempt for theriches of His kindness,
forbearance and patience, notrealizing that God's kindness is

(06:40):
intended to lead you torepentance? Whoa, that was
heavy. But then again, Romansalways is. I read that, and my
heart was really, reallyconvicted. And I felt really,
really icky.

(07:06):
After the Scripture hit myheart, like a ton of bricks, it
all started to make sense. Thereason there are people we don't
entirely enjoy might just be anugly truth about us. I know,
right? I won't look at you, youwon't look at me, we'll just

(07:27):
kind of hang out by ourselvesand try and process this because
it's gonna get, it's gonna getdeep this is comin' for our
houses today. So maybe we don'tentirely like them. Because
we're too busy judging them.
Could that be a thing? I didn'tsee that coming. Did you? No, I

(07:49):
definitely didn't, when Istarted off talking about
kindness. Our amazing God is oneof kindness, forbearance and
patience to his most unruly attimes creation. And if God can
do that with us, how can we notdo this to everyone? I don't

(08:12):
know how your heart is feelingright now. But after I got
digging, through the fruit ofkindness, I needed to hit my
knees in repentance, becausethere was some judgment hiding
behind that really pretty littlefacade of, you know, not really
enjoying some people, right?

(08:36):
Ughhh, welcome to being human.
The constant work in progressevery day, on this side of
Heaven.
Friends, kindness is a choicethat we get to make without
judgment of another. Every day,in every moment in every
situation. Easier said thandone. I know. But gratefully, we

(08:57):
have the perfect model to followthat Jesus showed us.
And so with that, now that we'vedug deep into kindness, I want
to mosey on over to the fruit ofgoodness. In Genesis we see over
and over God creating somethingand deeming it good, this shows

(09:18):
us that which the Lord createsis good. Romans 12:9 tells us to
hate what is evil and cling towhat is good. And to cling to
something means to hold tight toit. I think of the things that
we hold tight to in this world.
They can be really good and theycan be really bad. And we hold
tight to them for one reason oranother. We all cling to

(09:39):
something. So the illustrationthat kept coming to mind as I
was researching goodness wasbeing – this is terrifying –
being in an ocean in the middleof a storm with no boat. Told
you terrifying. There'slightning overhead. There's dark
thunder clouds and the water andthe whitecaps threaten to pull

(10:02):
us under. In the middle of astorm were thrown this this life
raft. If that was you in thatsituation, what would you do? I
know what I would do, I wouldcling to that raft, I would
cling you that raft with everyfiber of strength in my muscles,
I would have a white knuckledgrip on that raft so tight, that

(10:24):
there is nothing that can tearme away. And I would cling to it
until I was pulled to safety. Asyou probably realize the storm
in that illustration is life –our circumstances. What is the
raft? Well, my friends, dependson what you're clinging to. I

(10:45):
truly believe, to cultivate thefruit of goodness in our life,
that raft needs to be truth. Itmust be the word of God. If we
don't know what God deems good,and what God deems bad or evil,
we don't know, we won't know,what true God filled goodness

(11:09):
looks like. We won't have anyidea because we don't know what
we don't know. My friends, Idon't know about you. But if I
can be honest, in the safespace, I can tell you that I
have lived long enough to knowthat without the solid
foundation of truth andscripture in my life, I am
tempted to choose what is notgood. Let's be honest, sometimes

(11:32):
the worst things for us areliterally the most enticing. Can
anyone out there relate? Becauseof this fact, right of what it's
like to be human. I need to knowwhat the Bible says. It is a
knowing what His Word says thatwe are able to live it out in

(11:52):
our life. We're able to makechoices to cling to goodness.
And then we can cultivate thatfruit in our life. We get to
know what the scripture says.
And as different life choicescome up. We can choose them
powerfully.

(12:14):
Friends, I hope that you enjoyedepisode five of season three. I
know it was heavy. And I knowsome of it was hard to hear
because trust me it was hard tolearn and write and produce. I
hope, kindness and goodness arefruits that you can cultivate in

(12:35):
your life. They have the powerto change things for the very
best that I will promise you. Mylovely friends, come back next
time. Let's throw moreencouragement around like
confetti. But be careful. Asalways, if you get too close,
you're gonna get some on you.
Remember, there is always alwaysalways something to be thankful

(13:00):
for. Ciao.
Thank you for joining me,Desiree Melfi Bozzo for this
episode of Life Out Loud. Iwould love to hear from you.
Leave me a comment. Tell me whattopics you want to talk about
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(13:20):
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