For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.
“Kill ‘em with kindness,” the old saying goes. According to the internet (which knows everything, of course), the idiom dates back about 500 years. Many attribute the origin of the saying to the image of a female ape coddling her young. That is, an ape giving its young a hug that turns out to be too energetic, thereby causing harm to the young. Though not the most palatable thought, it does help us understand how the saying “kill ‘em with kindness” developed.
Yet long before medieval observers commented on the behavior of simian creatures, scripture had already declared the appropriate way for followers of God to act. The purpose of expressing kindness is not to cause harm to another, of course. Such is antithetical to everything Christ taught and modeled. To the contrary, our responsibility in this world as Christians is to be kind to all with whom we come into contact. It is to seek to fulfill the needs of others, as much as it is possible for us to do so—regardless of their “affiliation” or their feelings and behaviors toward us. All this is for the sake of showing Christ to them.
We have been saved by Jesus Christ. We have been loved in a way that we cannot hope to comprehend. All of this is undeserved, too. Recognizing the immeasurable value of our salvation, and the love that Christ continues to pour into our lives, we are to live as people who reflect that love toward others. We are to live as servants of God.
–Ricky