Meditations on Gentleness
A fruit of the Holy Spirit
As I prepared to share this monthly communication with you, I began thinking deeply about gentleness and what that looks like, how we experience it, show it, and receive it. I pretty quickly realized in the harshness of the world today, we could easily overlook all the many ways we see gentleness manifest itself to us. This gift of the Spirit is all around us and, if Christ is truly in us, it should also come out of us.
Gentleness is often described as kindness, humility, and meekness and relates to fairness and reasonableness. The opposite of gentleness is being harsh, severe, or unreasonable. True gentleness means cultivating a softness of heart toward other people.
The world doesn't exactly treasure the concept of gentleness. In fact, many would consider this a weakness, but God highly values a gentle and quiet spirit. We see it through a disposition of kindness and humility, we experience it through the words and actions of others, and we receive it primarily through the example of Jesus.
1 Peter 3:4
“You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.”
The Bible is full of stories of how Jesus, time after time, approached broken people with his gentle loving kindness. The gentleness He consistently showed reveals just how soft His heart was for others.
Some of my favorite examples of gentleness manifest are listed below:
Gentle Words - Our mouths hold so much power. We hold the ability to either stir up anger or bring peace with our responses.
“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
Strength - We can choose to try to “muscle through” in our own power or we can depend on God’s power. We can be strong through Him.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”
Resting - When we are confident in our position with Christ, we are free to rest under His provision and protection.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Wisdom - When we are spiritually wise, a spirit of meekness, unity, and peace prevails in us. Alternatively, worldly wisdom reveals pride, selfishness, and leads to division.
“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.”
Forgiveness - Jesus has forgiven us for every single transgression in our past and our future. We hurt people all the time, we make bad decisions, and screw things up - a kind and compassionate response when someone else does the same shows we understand just how broken we all are.
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
God’s Word - I love God’s Word - I look to it for instruction, encouragement, hope, and strength - it renews my soul day after day. It is the primary way I know God and allow Him to know me.
“Let my teaching fall like gentle rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.”
Dependence - When we acknowledge our dependence on God and His Holy Spirit, He enables us to partake in His beautiful fruit. This doesn’t happen because of us and our efforts, it is only through Jesus’ saving grace that we are made righteous; He transforms us from the inside out and we fully rely on Him.
“But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.”
I encourage you to do the hard heart work of reflecting on gentleness and how you may or may not be cooperating with the Spirit in this area. This is absolutely not something that comes naturally for any of us, but God wants to do this great work in each of us. My prayer is that each of us allows the Spirit to transform our inner beings to reveal more kindness, humility, and a sweet reasonableness.
Want to go deeper on Gentleness? Check out this post.