Tie Kindness to Yourself

May you be encouraged by these excerpts from Ptr. Mikee Sosmeña's devotion to our high school students during their Worship and Prayer time last Sept. 14, 2026:

Proverbs 3:3

Kindness – our theme for the year – is one such thing we need to carry with us all the time. In fact, it’s something we not only need to carry with us, but it’s something we need to fasten onto us.

[The book of] Proverbs, [is a compilation of] short sayings that capture truths about life. This book is in our Bibles because it explains how wisdom comes from the fear of the Lord, and how living our lives morally is part of living our lives as worship to God. Our text is in the first part of Proverbs which features poems that are meant to persuade the reader to pursue wisdom, and the way it does that is by presenting a father admonishing his son to seek wisdom instead of folly.

Steadfast Love and Faithfulness

In this passage, the father points out two ideas to the son. These are steadfast love and faithfulness.

Steadfast love is not a simple term in the Old Testament because the word it comes from, חֶ֥סֶד, is loaded with ideas of favor, mercy, and pity. There’s one aspect to חֶ֥סֶד however that is useful for us – this is one word in Scripture used to refer to kindness, whether God’s character of kindness, or the kindness we’re supposed to demonstrate to each other.

Faithfulness meanwhile just means truth or stability. It’s how you describe someone who is reliable. When you guys voted for your batch reps recently, I hope you did it looking for these two virtues in mind. Now, what I want us to understand is that these two virtues were not randomly selected.

For the original Jewish audience of Proverbs, they would have recognized these terms as how God described Himself in their Scriptures. Take a look at Exodus 34:6 and Psalm 100:5.

Hence, our verse is describing the way God is kind and reliable to them. The father was telling his son to pursue wisdom by tying kindness to himself, carrying with Him the way God has been kind to him, having been commanded to be kind to others.

Reflection

We cannot be kind if we don’t know kindness. You have to receive kindness in order to be kind. And students, we will never tire of reminding you of this – you have been made a recipient of the kindness of God when you put your trust in Jesus Christ, because faith in Him has made you a child of God, and therefore this proverb is for you too. You have the capacity to be kind because God has been kind to you.

Notice how kindness and reliability are tied together, steadfast love and faithfulness, over and over again in Scripture. When someone is described as kind to you, we must consider how trustworthy they are. When we consider how to be kind to others, we must evaluate how dependable we are being.

Kindness is seen when you contribute to the group project. Kindness is seen when you hold the elevator door open for those entering and exiting when you find yourself in front of the button. Kindness is seen when your friends know they can open up to you about their worries because they can trust that you won’t dismiss their feelings.

Finally, of all the body parts to go with, isn’t it intriguing that it’s the two that you can’t live without? You can go through life without an arm or a leg, but not if your neck’s been cut off and if your heart’s stopped beating. I suggest that the instructions of this proverb have something to do with treating kindness as inseparable from our lives. They’re meant to be carried inward – the heart – and outward – the neck.

Application

If kindness and reliability are so intertwined, then how about this week, focus on being a reliable and dependable classmate. Jesus Christ told us to let our “Yes” be “Yes”, and could you imagine if Jesus had backed out at the last minute when He was about to die for our sins? If you commit to something, then as much as you can, be dependable as Christ is. In your projects and orgwork, in your chores at home, you can practice kindness by being reliable, performing your tasks with excellence and punctuality.

Here’s one last for you – bring Scripture into the mundane. If, according to the logic of this verse, we find the steadfast love and faithfulness of God in our Bibles, and these are meant to be inseparably with us, then I want each of you to make a more concerted effort to harmonize Scripture in the boring, everyday things you do. Bring Scripture into your mundane activities this week, and you’ll be surprised how kindness is something still tied to us.

Conclusion

We must carry kindness everywhere. It’s something we come to understand through God’s character of steadfast love and faithfulness, and it’s something we inseparably attach to ourselves as we go through life. So students, would you make this school a little kinder, and as a result make our country a little kinder too by being reliable this week in bringing Scripture into the mundane?

Don’t let it loosen up. Tie kindness to yourself.