The Fruit of the Spirit is…Gentleness

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.

The fruit of the Spirit is…gentleness.  Gentle.  Men don’t like this word.  Many are afraid of it – to be gentle I mean.  Why?

The word gentleness means “meekness”, or “humility”.  Today some people are afraid to be meek or humble.  They feel it gets us nowhere.  Today you have to exert yourself, you have to forceful, express your anger, or else people will use you, misuse you and even abuse you!  So, to be gentle is not acceptable advice.

But, when the Spirit moves in your life, to change you and bring Christ-likeness, He will bring gentleness.  Why?  Because our God is gentle.  Our Lord is gentle.

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."

Why did our Lord claim to be gentle?  The ones God is calling here in this passage are those who are weary and burdened because of sin.  When we come to Him, because He is gentle, He will not shout, curse, hit or shame us.  He will give us rest for our souls.  Imagine a just and righteous God, who has every right to be violent and harsh with us because of our sin, calling us to come to Him and find rest in Him.  That’s a gentle heart.

God wants the same gentleness in us, especially when we are in conflict, when there are differences, and when we need to express our anger.  We need to deal with each other in gentleness.  There are some who believe that the only way to deal with others who we correct, rebuke or argue with is to shout, use harsh words.

There are others who feel that they can gain the respect of others by being harsh and hard in our actions and words.  Others feel strong, in control, and so are violent and harsh in their ways.  Many men are like this – to show their authority over their wives, or their children, to be “macho” they use harsh words and even violence.

But for the Lord gentleness is His way.

Colossians 3:12 (NIV)
12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

To be gentle does not mean to be soft or weak.  It simply means that, though we are angry or correcting someone’s mistake, we do it in a way that is encouraging, that will build up a person, and that will glorify the name of our God.

True gentleness is not just about action.  It’s about heart.  A gentle person is someone who has experienced the gentleness of his God, who was gracious and loving towards us who deserved punishment and harsh words from God.  And because our hearts have been softened by this work of grace and gentleness, we, too, deal with others with the same heart.

A heart that is gentle in its ways and words is a heart that trusts in God, knowing that it is not our harshness or violence that will move people to do something, but God.  We trust that it is God who will move in the heart of the person we are correcting or arguing with, and the One in control of the situation is not us but God.  And so we don’t do things our way, but God’s way.  And God’s way, the fruit of the Spirit, is gentleness.

Ephesians 4:2 (NIV)
2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.