The Law of Kindness

On the program today, I will speak with Mary Beeke. Wife of Dr. Joel Beeke and the Author of the book, "The Law of Kindness".

Mary was prompted to write this book because she loves the whole concept of kindness. She enjoyed receiving kindness as a child but over the years she's learned that there's a lot of joy and blessing in being kind. Kindness is the state, quality or habit of being kind. She sees two parts to this. First of all there's the inside part which includes feelings of compassion and the motives of our hearts. The second part involves the resulting behavior which is intended for the improvement of another person's situation.

Mary believes that righteousness and holiness go hand in hand with kindness. In other words, kindness is not soft or "wishy-washy." Tough love is sometimes necessary. In other words, correction is also part of the category of kindness. She points to the example of Jesus Christ, whose walk on earth was the greatest example of kindness. He showed kindness to those who were "down and out," prostitutes, sick people, etc. His greatest kindness, of course, came in the form of his death on the Cross to save sinners.

So how does kindness manifest itself in our lives? Mary presents the example of the kind wife, the submission factor, how husbands can show kindness to their wives, kindness between parents and children, as well as kindness in the church.