His Love Frees

Happy New Year and all that… this is the traditional time for people to set their goals and agendas for the 12 months ahead. In my own family, we take time to look back at the previous New Year’s resolutions we made as individuals last January, to see our progress and then we agree to our commitments in the foreseeable future. That means simple pledges ranging from reading the Bible more to fitness to altruistic activities.

This year (2025), I am rather taken by the notion of legacy. I spend hours of my life beavering away on a laptop writing content but I don’t see many people conversationally, outside my immediate circle. I took a shortcut during a walk yesterday and found myself in a large cemetery. And the thought occurred to me that whatever hopes and dreams these now deceased people in the ground may have had, it was too late. What is done is done. They have run their races and the weighing of the legacies left, good or bad, under grace or law, remain with God. 

So for those of us ‘living’ the challenge is simply – what kind of legacy do we expect to leave, not only to loved ones but the wider world? 

At funerals, dead people seem to be remembered not for their wealth achievements but how they related to others. Did they show love, kindness and care? Those are the memories that matter. 

That is what is haunting me personally at this time. I am unsure of my own legacy. I try to manage my own family but often they seem better at guiding me and I am grateful for that! In my professional life, there are various journalistic articles and devotionals, an unsuccessful children’s book and a few published poems, but what else? Does love and kindness define my legacy?

I am not convinced it does and that is why my own resolution this year is to try and show kindness. It’s not easy because I am so self focused. However, I was thinking that there are now (to date) 254 subscribers to this ‘His Love Frees’ blog: a small but not insignificant number. That means 254 people attracted to the notion that the love of Jesus Christ frees mankind and that has a powerful effect in our current lives. 

What if… this HLF community pledged to show one act of kindness every day? Our secular news agenda is rife with reports of evil: people hurting each other, especially in the wars going on. Why don’t we declare an act of war, so to speak, but push the other way? We could fire bombs of compassion rather than bombs of destruction at our fellow men and women? Make a firm commitment that every day one of us will make an effort to help someone else. If 255 people (including myself) took that seriously, it would mean 255 acts of kindness each day: 1,785 acts each week, 7,140 acts per month and 85,680 per year. Imagine that… this time next year our HLF community could have committed 85,680 acts of kindness, helping people! Modelling the kindness shown to us by God through Jesus, as guided by the Holy Spirit. 

I have made a basic list here of examples of acts of kindness. But to be honest, I struggle with ideas so it’s certainly not an exhaustive list, although simplicity is always best! I know this is all idealistic and naive. Rudyard Kipling once wrote, “If you can dream but not make dreams your master?” Even so, let’s not just dream but act! 

My rudimentary list of acts of kindness:-

-Make a phone call to someone not on the radar of your everyday life

-Make a deliberate effort to safely talk to strangers 

-If donating money for Christian causes, actually do it but also take time to study where the money is being spent and the fruitfulness of your donation to be sure it helps people

-Push against the negative culture of social media posts and instead write encouraging and Godly responses

-Prioritise your wife or husband over yourself 

-Give your kids the best childhood by simply spending time with them

-Don’t presume your elderly relatives are okay; be a constant reassuring presence to them

… Any others?

“Be kind and compassionate to one another.”

(Ephesians 4: 32a)

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