Customer: Well, after much consideration, I’ve decided to install Love. Can you guide me through the process?
Tech Support: Yes. I can help you. Are you ready to proceed?
Customer: Well, I’m not very technical, but I think I’m ready. What do I do first?
Tech Support: The first step is to open your Heart. Have you located your Heart?
Customer: Yes, but there are several other programs running now. Is it okay to install Love while they are running?
Tech Support: What programs are running?
Customer: Let’s see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-Esteem, Grudge, and Resentment running right now.
Tech Support: No problem, Love will gradually erase Past Hurt from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent memory but will no longer disrupt other programs. Love will eventually override Low Self-Esteem with a module of its own called High Self-Esteem. However, you have to completely turn off Grudge and Resentment. Those programs prevent Love from being properly installed. Can you turn those off?
Customer: I don’t know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how?
Tech Support: With pleasure. Go to your start menu and select Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and Resentment have been completely erased.
Customer: Okay, done! Love has started installing itself. Oops! I have an error message already. It says, “Error- Program not run on external components.” What should I do?
Tech Support: Don’t worry. In non technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before you can Love others. Pull down Self-Acceptance; then click on the following files: Forgive Self, Realise Your Worth, and Acknowledge Your Limitations.
Customer: Got it. Hey! My heart is filling up with new files. Smile is playing on my monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying themselves all over my Heart. Is this normal?
Tech Support: Yes, that means Love is installed and running. One more thing before we hang up. This Love program is freeware.
“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” ( Ezekiel 36:26-27)
Kindness is a lifestyle. It is a daily practice. It is a choice. As Christians we are to grow in the fruit of the spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and kindness – and growth takes time. A seed does not transform into a tree overnight, but with careful watering, tending, and patience, a seed will slowly grow day-by-day into a strong towering tree. It is the same with kindness. We must be faithful every day to bear the good fruit of kindness. Being kind should be our default mode, a habit of goodwill, a heart of continual service every day of the year.
If kindness needs faithful practice every day, kindness also requires intentionality. Oftentimes, kind acts are on-the-spot, in the moment, and unplanned. However, we must be intentional, it isn’t just when we feel like it. Kindness requires a seeking out, a looking for the needs of others. During his life on earth, Jesus was a perfect emblem of this fruit of the spirit. For three years of ministry, he looked toward the needs of others, never turning them away. He could be counted on. How often today do we miss opportunities to show God’s love to others because we are too busy? We rush here and there, leaving the needs of others in a blur as we whiz past. Slow down and open your eyes. Jesus took the time, and you should too. So, slow down, make the time, and look for the needs of others. Be intentional in showing kindness; be consistent.
“Love your neighbour as yourself,” – the second greatest commandment. But, Lord, “who is my neighbour?” With this question, the Parable of the Good Samaritan was born. Here, a Jewish man was robbed and beaten, left to die. The Jewish priest and Levite passed by, but the Samaritan saved him. The point of Jesus’ story was this: everyone is your neighbour – the foreigner, the widow, the orphan, and even your enemy. We are to show merciful kindness to everyone. “The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless;” “Love your enemies…do good to them that hate you;” “he who does not love his brother, how is it possible for him to love God who is invisible?”
Time and again, God looks out for the cause of the widows and orphans; he cares deeply for the strangers in the land; he emphasizes love for family; he requires mercy and compassion for even your enemies. Oftentimes, we want to choose to whom we show kindness. Left to our own, we would limit kind acts to friends and people in authority above us, people from whom we can attain something in return. But Christ calls us to lower our eyes and look at those who are below, who have nothing, can offer nothing, have no defender. He calls us to welcome the foreigner, the rejected in our land.
Rather than revenge, He calls us to bless our enemies, knowing that through kindness, we can soften hearts. It is easy to get irritated at siblings, throw them under the bus, argue, fight, blame, or just plain ignore them, but Christ emphasizes mercy, patience, love, and kindness to our families. Friends are easy to love, but we are called to be a friend to the friendless. Kindness is selfless, compassionate, and merciful; its greatest power revealed in practice to our enemies and amongst the least of these. Love your neighbour; show kindness to EVERYONE.
For a perfect emblem of Biblical kindness, we need look no further than Jesus. Crowds followed Him and travelled miles just to hear him speak. Healing the sick, feeding the hungry, teaching the people, caring for the widow, and defending children, Jesus lived 33 years of perfect kindness. He is not asking any more of us than what He willingly practiced himself. Even on the cross, He displayed compassionate, merciful kindness praying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Defending the weak, poor, and needy, He stated, “As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
Jesus was perfectly selfless in everything He did. Flowing unceasingly from Him, kindness was His lifestyle. He took notice for the cause of the needy, intentionally and consistently seeking them out, even when He was tired and weary. Without partiality, He was kind to everyone, even if they didn’t “deserve” it. He turned no one away. And by the shedding of his blood on the cross, He demonstrated His love for the entirety of humanity – the ultimate act of kindness. Christ is the perfect role model of kindness.
So, what does Biblical kindness look like? It looks like Christ. Not for just a season or one day of the year, kindness is for every moment of every day; it’s a habit, a lifestyle, a continual practice. It is intentional, taking time and patience, a giving of ourselves in “the busy,” even when we are “too tired.” And lastly, kindness is for absolutely everyone. As we intentionally show kindness each day, may we shine the light of Christ to a dying world in need of a saviour, a generation in need of love and grace. Be Jesus to someone today and every day; make Him your role model and kindness your lifestyle.
I was born and raised in London, England, into a non-religious and a seriously dysfunctional home. Growing up in that environment, I developed a distorted view of life and relationships. From an early age, I had always wanted to travel and experience the world. I believed that all paths led to God, no matter the religion, and that it was simply a personal choice of how you got there. This belief eventually drew me to the New Age movement, which seemed to promise purpose, healing, and truth.
I became deeply involved in practices such as astrology, tarot cards, yoga, and spiritualist teachings. I believed in reincarnation, studied past life regression, and even qualified as a life coach, thinking I was helping others. But in reality, I was the one who was deeply unfulfilled and running wild. I was careless and reckless in my behaviour, mixing with the wrong crowds. On the inside, I was lost, restless, and wounded, masking my pain by chasing after the things society deems as success. Yet, no matter what I did, the emptiness in my heart wouldn’t go away.
Eventually, I hit rock bottom, and my life came crashing down. It descended into chaos—work, relationships, every area of my life fell apart. I became overwhelmed with hopelessness, depression, and despair, feeling like there was no way out. I began having suicidal thoughts, and in a very dark moment, I began contemplating ending my life. At the time, I was staying with my grandmother, who had been praying for me and giving me Bible verses to read. Her prayers had planted seeds in my heart, and I began searching for answers.
That night, Jesus the Christ met me in my brokenness. A warm presence of love and peace flooded my room, and I just knew it was Him. I didn’t need to be told He was the Son of God—I knew. Psalm 34:18 says, “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” The truth of that verse came alive for me that night.
The next morning, everything felt different. Inside, I felt refreshed. The heaviness I had carried for so long was lifted, and I felt hope stirring in my heart.
I began reading the Bible and discovered that Christianity wasn’t about man trying to reach God through religious efforts. I had spent so much time in the New Age movement, thinking that all paths led to the same God and that Jesus was just a good teacher, but I was deceived. It was about God reaching out to us through Jesus Christ, wanting us to be restored so we can have a relationship with Him, the Creator of the universe. I had to face the truth that the practices I had embraced were harmful and part of a deceptive system. Colossians 2:8 warns us not to be taken captive by hollow and deceptive philosophies, and I could see how that had happened to me.
I repented of my sins, renounced my former beliefs, and surrendered my life to Jesus. He wasn’t just saving me from my sin—He was saving me from myself. I discovered that our sin had separated us from a Holy God, and no amount of self-help or religious effort could restore that relationship. But God, in His love, sent His Son to take the penalty for our sin and make a way for us to be reconciled to Him. John 14:6 says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” I realised there weren’t many paths to God—there is only one, and it’s through Jesus, the mediator between God and man.
When I gave my life to Jesus, everything changed. The void I had tried to fill with the world was now filled with His love. I asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to live a righteous life. His Word became my guide, His Spirit strengthened me, and His grace gave me peace and purpose. This wasn’t just a change in behaviour—it was a transformation of my heart, and I was now a baptised, born-again believer.
Looking back, I see how God’s kindness and mercy led me to repentance, and I am now walking in the assurance of His love. The Lord had a plan and purpose for my life ordained from the foundations of time, and He has a plan for you too. My life is a testimony of what God can do when someone repents, gives their life to Him, and surrenders to His will. I now know the peace, purpose, and true joy that come from knowing Jesus, and I am so grateful for the new life He has given me.
This was only the beginning of my journey. As I continued to walk with the Lord, I trained and prepared for certain areas of ministry, but God, in His wisdom, closed those doors and lovingly redirected my steps. Through this, He taught me that calling is not about titles or platforms, but about obedience and trust.
“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)
Today, my desire is simply to follow wherever He leads. My mission is to share God’s love and nurture faith through the gospel, writing, outreach, and service, as the Holy Spirit directs. I trust that God opens the doors no one can shut and closes the ones that are not His will.
~ Lori 💕
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*How to be saved: The Path To Salvation, please click: HERE / Photo by Eberhard Grossgasteiger
“PRIDE GOES BEFORE DESTRUCTION, AND A HAUGHTY SPIRIT BEFORE A FALL.” – PROVERBS 16:18
A – Pride loves ATTENTION and honour from men. It loves compliments and flattery. The humble fear this since they recognise the temptation to steal God’s glory. The humble follow the principle to “Serve God then run away”, such as Jesus did when people tried to make Him king (John 6:15). We may not be able to run away from these moments physically, but in our heart we should be running away from all temptations to indulge in proud thoughts and steal the glory of God. Pride does many good works while secretly hoping someone noticed, being happy at the thought that someone apart from God may be thinking well of us.
B – Pride is a spirit of BLAME. When something goes wrong, it assumes some other person or situation is at fault (Matthew 7:3). The proud make excuses when it is their fault, and can easily find reason why their mistake is actually the fault of another.
C – Pride is COMPARISON. It’s one piece of dust saying to another piece of dust “look at how great I am, because I’m a bit bigger than you.” (Psalm 103:14, 2 Corinthians 10:12)
D – Pride is DISOBEDIENCE to God. The main characteristic of humility was shown in Jesus’ obedience even to the point of death (Philippians 2:8). Pride is plain and simple disobedience to the Lord in anything.
E – Pride is ENTITLEMENT, it’s feeling that we deserve something from anyone, because of who we are or what we’ve done. For example: it is unwilling to be frugal in money because it feels entitled to buy what it likes. Or it can be an unwillingness to eat simple food, or take a simple vacation rather than a more luxurious one. Humility is never entitled, but keeps an attitude of unworthiness / undeservedness (Luke 17:10, Luke 5:8). Humility recognises that all we have comes from God (1 Corinthians 4:7).
F – Pride loves to FIGHT (it is contentious, very quick to argue). It sets itself to quarrel as long as it takes, until it wins the argument. Humility is letting the other person win the argument, and then changing the conversation to something else you can agree on without fighting, like sports or the weather.
G – Pride GLORIES in past good works it has done. Pride is revisiting the good works we’ve done in our mind and patting ourselves on the back, taking satisfaction in what we’ve done “with our own hands” instead of giving God the glory (Daniel 4:30-37).
H – Pride is very HARSH with other people in words or actions, it’s lacking in a critical fruit of the Spirit: gentleness (Galatians 5:23). Humility is gentleness (careful not to harm another even in little ways, such as a careless hurtful word or joke about someone). But pride leads to uncontrolled anger that ends up lashing out in harsh ways at others.
I – Pride is IMPATIENT. For example, a proud person gets quickly frustrated with a coworker who is slow to respond, with a slow driver on the road, or with a crying child because he feels he deserves much quiet time to himself.
J – Pride JUSTIFIES itself (Luke 16:15), and JUDGES others, looking down on others in the heart (Matt 7:1). It often joins hands with the accuser (Revelation 12:10), focusing on the sins of others, and excusing its own sins.
K – Pride often gets puffed up with KNOWLEDGE (1 Corinthians 8:1). Pride is assuming that we see and understand things more clearly than others.
L – Pride is having LOFTY thoughts of yourself (Romans 12:3). Pride assumes we are indispensable in the kingdom of God or at our occupation, for example. Both will get along fine without us after we are gone! I once heard a saying, “The graveyards are filled with indispensable people.” So many millions of “important” people in the past have lived and died, but the world kept on going. (1 Peter 1:24-25)
M – Pride is MISERLY. Not only with its money, but with its time. It can often get offended when someone asks a favour of us, as if they have no right to. This is because it considers my plans and obligations as more important than somebody else’s; so it is unwilling to be inconvenienced. For example, pride is fixing lunch for myself if I’m hungry but leaving my kids without food until they get cranky and start asking. Or it’s consistently leaving messes for my wife to clean up, without considering her work. Jesus cleaned up even a small linen cloth after He was resurrected (John 20:7). Humility is very considerate of others (Philippians 2:4). Pride is being consistently too busy to help my spouse or child with little things. It’s is an unwillingness to be interrupted.
N – Pride is being NOSY. It’s being a busybody in other people’s matters (2 Thessalonians 3:11) – pride assumes that we deserve to know what’s going on in another person’s life or that our opinion about it matters.
O – Pride is very OPINIONATED about many matters outside of the things of God. Jesus was not very opinionated outside of the things of God. We should hold tightly to God’s word, but outside of that it’s possible to be very strongly opinionated as well, expressing our strong feelings about such and such matter which has nothing to do with us. Paul said, “I will not boast in anything except for in the cross of Christ” (Galatians 6:14). I heard a saying once which blessed me; “The more we grow in Christ the less eager we are to share our own opinions.”
P – Pride is PRESUMPTION: it’s the assumption that I know what’s going to happen in the future, or holding tightly to my own plans which I for sure will carry out (James 4:14-16) – we should only say “If the Lord wills it.” Pride depends on self (and is quite confident in it!), rather than God.
Q – Pride is QUICK to speak, and slow to listen, rather than the other way around (James 1:19). A proud person loves talking about himself a lot – pride assumes that my life is more interesting than that of another. A proud person often dominates a conversation. The proud don’t listen very carefully to sermons or when reading Scripture since they feel they are pretty good people already, they may listen or read for knowledge which they can boast about later, but the humble have a keen eye and ear specifically for personal application they can take for themselves since they recognise their need and want to improve in the areas of their need/sin. The ear of need is what Jesus referred to as “ears to hear” (Matthew 11:15). Pride is being very eager to share with others what the Lord has showed us (because we feel clever and want to impress people), but not valuing the other truths that our brothers and sisters have to share. It’s being very interested to speak, but having little interest to listen.
R – Pride is the ROOT of every sin. Grace is God’s power to keep me from sin (Romans 6:14, 2 Corinthians 12:9), and God gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5). That means: if I sinned, I didn’t get grace because there was pride in me somewhere. At the root of every sin is pride.
S – Pride refuses SERVING in ‘Low’ tasks (which we consider ‘below’ us), either in the home (like washing dishes or doing laundry), or in the workplace, such as some menial task which we consider someone else’s job. Humility is quietly willing to take the low, dirty responsibilities which nobody else wants (John 13:14).
T – The proud are THANKLESS and ungrateful, since they feel they are quite deserving of the good that comes to them. The proud may sing praise songs on Sundays but know nothing of thanking the Lord from the depths of their heart in secret, praising Him with a hymn of thanks in their heart when no one else sees, because they do not really believe they are that sinful and needed the Lord’s mercy all that much (Luke 7:47).
U – Pride is UNFORGIVING and UNAPOLOGETIC. Pride stays cold against someone even after they’ve apologised for wrongs against us. And it refuses to acknowledge or apologise for a wrong it has committed. Pride gets offended when rebuked or corrected (Proverbs 15:5). In that case, pride defends itself or worse – criticises the one giving the rebuke.
V – Pride is VENGEFUL. In subtle ways pride will hold a grudge, such as keeping a cold shoulder against someone for some time, even if on the outside they say with their mouth “I forgive you.” (Romans 12:19)
W – Pride is WITHOUT SYMPATHY for the suffering of others, and it’s full of jealousy for the success of others. Since it is so self-centered, pride can easily rejoice in its own ease and comfort, even while a brother is deeply mourning. Its attitude is “I’m glad that didn’t happen to me.” Alternately, it is easily jealous and so it doesn’t rejoice when a brother or sister is rejoicing. (Romans 12:15)
X – Pride is placing EXpectations on others. We are not God that we should command people what they should do and expect so many things from them. But pride gets angry at others when they don’t do what we want – even toward the Lord Himself. Pride makes demands from God for selfish reasons that aren’t promised in His Word (James 4:2-3).
Y – Pride is very unYIELDING and stubborn. It will not consider or yield to the opinion or desire of another, it will not back down until it gets its way. Jesus granted the request of even a demon when it asked to be cast into pigs! (Mark 5:12-13) But the motto of pride is “MY will be done.”
Z – Pride is ZEALOUS for one’s own honour (Matthew 23:6), and self preservation. Pride is thinking only about myself and my family, and unconcern for others outside of that circle. It is void of genuine love and concern for others.
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