The twentieth of January

The true nature of every human being is kindness^*

From the Bible:

So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.—Genesis 1:27 (NLT)

So if we're designed to be like God, then what's God like? I'll certainly agree that He's kind, but I don't know if the word "kindness" quite captures it. "Love" is closer to the mark, but unfortunately, the English language uses that word for a number of different ideas. So what kind of love have we been created for?

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.—Romans 5:6–8 (NLT)

<><

^* Reproduced by permission of the copyright-holder BK Publications, London, www.bkpublications.com