The Fruit of The Spirit ~ Gentleness

GENTLENESS
“Your gentleness has made me great” David said to God in 2 Samuel 22:36 and again in Psalm 18:35. It doesn’t say Your power or Your provisions or any other thing. It was God’s gentleness that made him great. David is called ‘a man after God’s own heart’ in 1 Samuel 13:13-14 and in Acts13:22. We don’t often hear that gentleness makes a great person, but consider one like Mother Theresa as she bends down in the gutter and lifts an abandoned, dying child into her arms and it is not hard to comprehend that gentleness indeed makes one great in the eyes of others, and in the eyes of God. We really cannot aspire to true greatness apart from an intimate acquaintance with the gentleness poured into us by our merciful Savior, and then it cannot help but flow into the lives of those Christ calls us to serve.

Paul exhorts the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 10 – “I am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ” and he goes on to speak of the battle we are engaged in on this earth – “for we walk in the flesh but we do not wage war according to the flesh. For our weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into obedience of Christ.” The weapons of our warfare, at the very core, are the fruit of His Spirit operating in and through us. The most effective strategy when facing flesh (carnal) induced battles is to do so out of a full measure of Christ’s own life as we yield ourselves to Him.

Do I plead with others out of the meekness and gentleness Christ has poured into me? Jesus turned the other cheek. Jesus loved the unlovable. Jesus touched the untouchable. Jesus honored the lowly. He offered such gentleness to the woman flung at his feet by a hostile mob. “Does anyone condemn you? No? Neither do I – go and sin no more” He said, releasing her to bear His gentleness to others she would encounter the rest of her life. Because the fruit of Christ’s Spirit fills me, this same Spirit is always here to lead me, to demonstrate His gentleness through me when another has lost their way. Colossians 3:12 says, “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” The woman ‘caught in the very act of adultery’ saw her accusers walk away one by one, none of them casting ‘the first stone.’ I wonder how even their lives were affected by this uncommon outward expression of gentleness. Here was a teacher of the law who could easily have condoned the stoning, but instead proved His own greatness through His gentle spirit. The Spirit of Jesus compels me to do the same: “Let your gentleness be known to all. The Lord is at hand.” Philippians 4:5

Another woman, the one with the alabaster jar full of costly perfume used mostly for burials, likewise experienced the greatness of God as Christ defended her in the home of Simon the Leper. Though Simon had been healed by Jesus, he and the disciples reclining at the table that day attempted to put this woman in her place by reminding Jesus of her past life, and then “The disciples were indignant. Why waste this? It might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.” Jesus steps into her life with the true heart of a servant and blesses this woman with great gentleness of spirit: “Why do you bother this woman? She has done a good deed to Me . . . . truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.” Still today, when followers of Christ declare His goodness and gentleness this woman’s own spirit of gentleness is remembered. Matthew 26:6-13. “If one is overtaken in any sin, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.” Galatians 6:1. Restoration, after all, is the objective of Christ’s love through in and through us.

One final story of greatness comes to mind. When the lawyer approached Jesus and asked what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus told a parable of one who, when others passed an injured man by, stopped and rendered aid and saw to it the man was given everything necessary for his healing and well-being. After finishing the story Jesus asked the lawyer, “So which of these three men was a true neighbor?” The lawyer prudently responded “The one who had mercy on him’ and Jesus replied ‘Go and do likewise’” Luke 10:37

Greatness is summed up by Jesus Himself in Mark 10:43-45 – “Whoever desires to become great among you shall be the servant of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Now, go and do likewise.

The fruit of the Spirit is Gentleness