The Fruit of the Spirit (Gentleness)

“Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30 NIV).

 Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:29 that He is gentle, and that if we follow His leading, He will give us rest. When life is difficult, Jeus calls us to Himself, and He will give us rest if we will learn from Him. When we allow ourselves to be yoked to Him, we learn from Him just as a younger ox learns from the older and stronger ox when they are yoked together. By being yoked to Jesus, we learn by example, and when we stay yoked to Him, the learning becomes imprinted in our hearts and minds, and we reflect His love to others.

 Paul reinforces the learning of gentleness from our Lord in Philippians 4:5: “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near” (NIV). In this section, Paul also tells us to rejoice and to present our petitions to God with thanksgiving. Rejoicing in the Lord and showing our trust in Him are both excellent witnesses of His faithfulness to us. A faithful witness can result in drawing others to Christ. Peter also reinforces this with his words in 1 Peter 3:15: “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (NIV). When we speak the message of Jesus Christ with gentleness, we show respect for other people’s thoughts and ideas. We do need to insist that Jesus Christ is the only answer to sin, but we can do so in a manner that does not speak down to others, but invites them to learn about His great love for all of us, and to accept His gift of forgiveness. If we shout and scream and demand, then we may engender an attitude of defensiveness that closes the ears of the listener. So let us be gentle and bring one more soul into the Kingdom of God.