Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
In today’s climate the idea of being a gentle person might be hard to imagine. Our current culture is anything but gentle and the prevailing idea is that gentle people will get pushed around and walked over.
What is Gentleness?
The dictionary defines the word as: mild, moderate, soft, and delicate. The word in the Greek is often translated as meekness.
There is something we need to understand when we speak of gentleness or meekness. Meekness is not weakness, in fact the Greeks used this word to describe strong animals that were brought under control.
There are only two individuals in the Bible who are described by this word, Jesus (three times) in Matthew 11:29; Matthew 21:5; and in 2 Corinthians 10:1, and in the Old Testament, Moses in Numbers 12:3 is described as meek.
I love this. Both Moses and Jesus were rescuers. They were part of God’s plan to set us free from slavery and bondage. These gentle men were in no way pushovers. Jesus invites us to live this life of gentleness with Him.
Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
He says, “Come unto me, all you weary and burdened and I will give you rest. The Lord invites you and me to walk alongside him, literally, to yoke up with him, and he’ll teach us this gentleness.
How is gentleness expressed in our lives?
It happens as we yield to Holy Spirit. We yield our personalities. We yield our words. We yield our expectations. As we do, we allow the Holy Spirit produced fruit of gentleness to be activated in our day to day lives.
Gentleness comes from a life committed to yielding to the Holy Spirit. True gentleness is power and strength that’s been brought under God’s control. Gentle people have been transformed by the surprising message of God’s grace, and they delight in showing that grace to others.
Steve Lawes is a Church Consultant and also provides coaching for pastors, churches, ministries and church planters.
