Gentleness

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22 – 23, NASB).

As I write these entries on what I am calling the characteristics of love, I am observing some things that I feel I need to comment on. There are times that I am not experiencing joy or peace or patience as I should and then I realize that love seems to have diminished. As I thought about this some verses came to mind. In 1 Cor. 14:1, Paul tells me to “Pursue love.” To pursue something requires putting forth some effort; sometimes a lot of effort. We are to “keep [ourselves] in the love of God” (Jude 21). To “keep in” implies that we could drift away from. To keep in, to abide in, God’s love also implies our attention and effort.

These characteristics don’t exist by themselves. They must have a source and that source is love and since God is love, the true source is God himself. From this statement one can argue that the words I am calling characteristics are thus fruit. It is a very fine line that I have crossed when I call love a fruit and the others characteristics. For now it is a position that is meaningful to me and has helped me in my walk with the Lord.

In this entry we want to look at “gentleness.” “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Prov. 15:1, NASB). That which is precious in the sight of God is the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit of the hidden person of the heart of a woman (1 Peter 3:4). Paul describes gentle in relation to a nursing mother tenderly caring for her child (1 Thess. 2:7). It is to be with gentleness that we correct someone who is wrong (2 Tim. 2:25). Being gentle is listed as a characteristic of wisdom from above, along with “peaceable, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy” (James 3:17). We see that gentleness has good company with humility, kindness, meekness and patience.

As I write this I am so impressed of the kindness of the grace of God. All of these words exist with meaning because of God. This is the nature of God and as we walk with him we can experience this. Our eternal presence with God apart from any aspect of sin is beyond comprehension. Hell is also beyond our comprehension, because without God being there all that we have been writing about will not be there. Remove all the wonderful characteristics of God, which will be with him in heaven, and you have hell. There you will have spiritual death in place of eternal life; darkness in place of light; hate in place of love. Think of all the opposites of the characteristics of God and that is what one will experience in hell.

It is human nature to lash out when wronged, but the love of God can provide us with the characteristic of gentleness. Gentleness is another aspect of our behavior that can draw others to Jesus Christ.