"Love is kind" (1 Corinthians 13:4).
Why should we be kind?
It’s evident when patience and kindness are linked together that we are dealing with someone who at the least has irritated us, and at the most, has sinned against us.
Why should we be kind to people like that?
I. Kindness in God is designed to bring people into a relationship with God.
"Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4).
His kindness is shown in His forbearance and patience.
The purpose is to bring people to repentance, which means to bring them into a relationship to Himself.
The kindness and severity of God make it possible for Gentiles to come into a relationship with God. "Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off" (Romans 11:22).
II. Our kindness toward others is designed to bring people into a relationship with God as well as to one another.
What happens to a relationship when, instead of kindness and patience, we act in anger and unkindness?
When Christians fall out with one another, they also fall out with God.