"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering." (Colossians 3:12)

"Kindness" comes from a root that means both to know and to beget, hence kindred. This is also the root for gentle, genuine and genial. The earliest definition of kindness is "natural affection rising from a near relationship or kinship" (Oxford English Dictionary). An aspect of kindness, then, is to treat all people as though they are our kin or kindred.

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