Be Gentle

When was the last time you prayed, “God, make me a more gentle person”?

Just what I thought!

Back in the 1830’s, George Bethune, a Dutch Reformed pastor and hymn writer, said,“Perhaps no grace is less prayed for, or less cultivated than gentleness. Indeed it is considered rather as belonging to natural disposition or external manners, than as a Christian Virtue; and seldom do we reflect that not to be gentle is a sin.”

Did you catch that? “Seldom do we reflect that not to be gentle is a sin.”

If that’s true, and I believe it is, then we ought to pay greater attention and give greater effort to making God’s call for gentleness the prominent character feature of our lives? Now that may not be so easy to do, since we live in a culture that venerates power and promotes aggressiveness and elevates domination as much higher virtues than gentleness—by far. Chances are, none of your heroes, and certainly none of mine, would be noted for their gentle natures.

But let me remind you that two of the greatest heroes of the Bible—the greatest hero in the Old Testament, and the greatest hero in the New Testament—were noted for their gentleness. These two great men, Moses and Jesus, are the only two men the Bible describes as being gentle. But these two were anything but weak and wimpy, which is how our culture defines gentleness. They were incredibly powerful men. They changed their worlds. Jesus was no weakling; Moses was not a wimpy guy. They were strong, charismatic, winsome individuals, but their lives were guided by love, kindness, compassion, understanding and patience—in a word, gentleness.

Biblical gentleness has nothing to do with being weak or inferior. A. W. Tozer says,

“The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather, he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God’s estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God has declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is, in the sight of God, more important than angels…He knows well that the world will never see him as God sees him and he has stopped caring.”

The secular Greeks used the word for gentleness to describe people or things that had a soothing quality about them. It was used of words that calmed a person who was agitated, bitter, angry or resentful. It also referred to an ointment that soothed the pain of a wound. It even meant to tranquilize. And it referred to a powerful leader, such as a king, who had the power and authority to harm or punish, but could be gentle and forgiving of human errors. Gentleness was power under control: It is being strong enough to be gentle.

It is gentleness, in all of these senses, that Paul says is to be evident in us for all to see. So let me suggest that your gentleness ought to be evident to the following people in your life:

• Number one, with the people who serve you. Take time to be tender with those who meet your needs.
• Number two, with the people who disappoint you. Be compassionate and gracious, refuse to be judgmental and harsh.
• Number three, with the people who disagree with you. Be tender without surrender.
• Number four, with the people who correct you. Be teachable and submissive, not stubborn and inflexible.
• Number five, with the people who hurt you. Refuse to react. Respond with acts of love.
• Number six, with people who don’t share your beliefs. Refuse to be critical.
• Number seven, with the people that live under your roof and in your own home. Be the embodiment of Biblical gentleness with your own flesh and blood.

The God to whom you belong is by nature gentle. He has given you his Holy Spirit to produce the fruit or character of gentleness within you. Now the only question that remains is, will you clothe yourself with his gentleness?

“Mildness in dealing with others…it is to display a sensitive regard for others and is careful never to be unfeeling for the rights of others.” ~Billy Graham

Reflect and Apply: Here are a few ideas for putting on gentleness: One, reflect on the gentleness of God toward you. Two, ask God to produce gentleness in your life. And three, pray for a specific person on whom you can bestow gentleness.