A bevy of scriptures on our next fruit gentleness:
Titus 3:2
To speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be
gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.
1 Peter 3:15
But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always
being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the
hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
Proverbs 15:1
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up
anger.
2 Timothy 2:24
And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind
to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents
with gentleness
James 3:17
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable,
gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
Galatians 6:1
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you
who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on
yourself, lest you too be tempted.
Matthew 11:29
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.
Why all the scripture? I wanted to point out how scripture teaches
us to be gentle in almost everything we do.
Speak gently, defend our faith gently, respond to anger gently, serve
gently, exercise wisdom gently, correct a mistake gently, (etc, etc, etc..
). I could list several more scriptures
that pair gentleness with virtually all activities of the follower of
Jesus. In my experience, gentleness is
one of the most overlooked fruits in the list.
It’s the lychee (a fruit that many have never heard of… if you’re
interested, google it) of the spiritual world. 😊
Also, it is perhaps the most badly
needed right now. We are living in a
time when so many people’s nerves are frayed and their stress levels are
through the roof. That actually can
explain the lack of gentleness; when we’re feeling stressed and harassed,
gentleness doesn’t come naturally. The
irony is that it is those times of stress and harassment that gentleness is
most needed.
The good news today is that there
is a reliable source of gentleness – the Spirit of God. But in order to access this everlasting
source, we have to push “pause” in the moment before losing our
you-know-what. There is actually a
moment before we throw gentleness out the window. God’s Spirit is there in that moment, but we
often ignore it. Taking a long slow
breath in that moment has the potential to remind ourselves that the Spirit is
available to help. As you inhale, feel
the Breath move into your lungs. “Breath”
is the root meaning of the Hebrew word for “Spirit.” With the Spirit accessed through our breath,
we may notice we have more options than the one that was about to happen
automatically. This is a moment of
freedom. This is a moment when a gentle option becomes possible. Try it today.
We’ll continue our practice
tomorrow with a discussion about how gentleness is the option of strength, not
weakness.
Prayer: God, help us
discover the moment between our stresses and our response, for in discovering
those moments we discover you are there. Amen
Prayer Focus: Pray
for people you vehemently disagree with today.
Song: David Crowder
Band – How He Loves
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