Fruit: Kindness

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." - Galatians 5:22-23

"By their fruit you will recognize them." - Matthew 7:16a

Once again I turn to my dictionary as we reach the half-way point in our series.  Kindness is, "the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate."  I don't know about you all, but after last week's post and now this one, I think I'm going to carry a dictionary around with me just to make life a little more clear.

There's a saying that you've probably heard or maybe read on some motivational poster with a kitten on it.  "If you want a friend, be a friend."  Cheesy, but true.  This means spending time hanging out, doing things together, and generally just having fun together.  This applies to the video game world as well as the real world.  Treat whoever you're playing with as a friend and things are likely go a lot smoother in general.

Generosity is one of those things that many people consider to be dependent on their financial situation.  They feel that they can only be generous if all of their needs and wants are taken care of first.  Not only is this a selfish attitude, but it's just plain false.  You can be generous with just about anything, from time to compliments - even in giving someone the benefit of the doubt when they appear to have done you wrong.  Sure, you can give other players all the gold and loot you get, but you can just as easily be generous in sharing your tricks for making that gold, or the best method for defeating the boss that drops that loot.


Finally, what is being considerate?  The root word is "consider" and that pretty much sums it up.  Consider how your words and actions will impact those around you.  Consider how someone else might be feeling, especially if you know they are going through some hard times.  Consider the tone of voice you use when talking to others - especially in games where your primary interactions with other players is through voice chat.

Consistently being considerate of others is not always easy, but it may well be the key to demonstrating the fruit of kindness, because it naturally leads to generosity and friendship.


How can you demonstrate kindness in the games you play?  Do you think that being friendly, generous, and considerate adds up to kindness?  Can you give specific examples of acts of kindness in video games?