WHAT’S IN YOUR WARDROBE? – Part 4 of 5

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

GENTLENESS

"Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near."  (Philippians 4:5 NIV)

We call it gentleness, but the Greeks called it praotes. Aristotle said that praotes was the perfect mean between too little anger and too much anger.

You thought anger was always bad?

Not at all.  No reform movement would ever have happened if someone hadn't gotten angry about the state of things as they found them.  It was when people grew angry about slavery that its death knell was sounded.  So, too, with child labor.

But the problem is to harness that anger.  That's where praotes -- gentleness -- comes in.  Anger destroys even in the name of great causes; without restraint, anger will defeat the very matters it endorses.  And our usual brand of self-control won't make it.  As William Barclay used to say, we need to be God-controlled.  That’s gentleness.  Because gentleness is power under purposeful direction.

-- J. Ellsworth Kalas (1923-2015) in “New Testament Stories from the Back Side”

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EMBRACING GENTLENESS

"Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near."  (Philippians 4:5 NIV) 

Pastor and author John Vawter once noted, “If we want to demonstrate the uncommon grace of Jesus to a world that worships power, we must set aside our combativeness to embrace gentleness.”

In a world that prizes dominance, assertiveness, and the last word, gentleness often feels like weakness. But Jesus flipped that narrative. He rode into Jerusalem not on a warhorse, but on a donkey. He washed the feet of those who would betray Him. He spoke truth not with thunder, but with tenderness.

Gentleness is not passivity. It is strength under control. It is power under purposeful direction. It is the Spirit-led choice to respond with grace when provoked, to listen when others shout, and to love when the world demands retaliation.

Jesus’ grace is uncommon because it doesn’t play by the world’s rules. It doesn’t seek to win arguments -- it seeks to win hearts. And that kind of grace is only visible when we lay down our need to be right, to be loud, to be first and take up the Jesus way. 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry™, compiled from a variety of sources

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THE WINSOME WITNESS

"In your hearts set apart 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." (1 Peter 3:15 NIV)

The word evangelism once conjured up for me mental images of Bible-thumping, fist-pounding, loud-voiced preachers. Now I think of evangelism simply as a plain, white candle. It's flame burns hot and strong, spreading light in the darkness. But as I grasp that candle, it feels cool to my touch and I have no difficulty holding it in my hand.

That's the kind of witness I feel called to be. My faith can burn brightly, but at the same time I can remain calm and cool. I am to speak about Jesus, but that does not mean that I get into heated arguments. I am to tell others about Jesus, but not in verbal battles. I am to have an answer for everyone who asks the reason for my hope, but I am to give my answer with "gentleness and respect" as Peter says.

Pushing our beliefs on others seldom meets with success. The winsome witness is a person in whom the light of Jesus shines brightly through gentle words and acts of love. 

-- Tanya Ferdinandusz in “The Upper Room”

Lord Jesus, help me to be a light, honoring You in my heart so that my words reflect Your love. Make me ready -- not just with answers, but with compassion. Let my hope in You be visible, my tone be gracious, and my life be a testimony to Your goodness. Amen.

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THE PROCESSION BEGINS

“Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here.”  (Luke 19:30 NKJV)

It is indeed the lowliest of all memorable processions which Jesus plans, and yet, in its very humility, it appeals to ancient prophecy, and says to Zion that her King is coming to her. The monarchs of the East and the captains of the West might ride upon horses as for war, but the King of Zion would come to her meek, and sitting upon an ass, upon a colt, the foal of an ass. Yet there is fitness and dignity in the use of “a colt on which no one has ever sat,” and it reminds us of other facts, such as that He was the firstborn of a virgin mother, and rested in a tomb which corruption had never soiled.

Thus He comes forth, the gentlest of the mighty, with no swords gleaming around to guard Him, or to smite the foreigner who tramples Israel, or the worse foes of her own household. Men who will follow such a King must lay aside their vain and earthly ambitions, and awake to the truth that spiritual powers are grander than any which violence ever grasped. 

-- Adapted from Chadwick, as quoted in “His Passion: Christ’s Journey to the Resurrection” 

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GIVING CHRISTMAS FRUIT

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

This season of gift-giving provides an opportune time to imagine how we might share the fruit of the Spirit during these often hectic days, when both people and packages fill our lives.

• Love — We can sift every thought, word, and action through the filter of “Is it demonstrating the love of Christ?”

• Joy — We can be the source of smiles, laughter, and appreciation because of the joy of Christ in us.

• Peace — We can fill the atmosphere with our own sense of the peace Christ, a calm amid the chaos, so that it brings peace to others.

• Patience — We can be more tolerant when things go awry knowing Christ is that way with us.

• Kindness — We can shower others with affirmation, encouraging the flickering light of Christ to burn more brightly in their lives.

• Goodness — We can focus on the positives, rather than the faults, on what is good and acceptable as Christ did.

• Faithfulness — We can be true to the blessed meaning of the Christmas season -- Emmanuel, God with us.

• Gentleness — We can give our full attention to each person, one at a time, not omitting even the most outcast.

• Self-control — We can commit ourselves to no outbursts, no over-indulgences, only Christ-centered behavior.

We can’t give away what we don’t possess; our connection to the Spirit is vital. As the fruit of the Spirit is grown within us, we can bestow blessings on those around us out of the abundant crop.

-- Generously adapted from “Rhythms of Growth: 365 Meditations to Nurture the Soul” by Linda Douty

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INFLUENCING OTHERS

“As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”  (1Peter 1:15-16 ESV)

Influence grows out of worship. Without that preoccupation, we have nothing to give a cynical, desperately unhappy, and unsettled world.

In 1966, during the closing service of the World Congress on Evangelism in the Kongresshalle in Berlin, Germany, Billy Graham spoke of the need for “a gentleness and a kindness and a love and a forgiveness and a compassion” that will mark us as different from the world. “We must be a holy people,” he said.

As an illustration of the power of personal holiness, he spoke of the conversion of Dr. H. C. Morrison, founder of Asbury Theological Seminary. He described a day many years before when Morrison, as a farm worker, was plowing in a field. Looking down the road, he saw an old Methodist circuit rider coming by on his horse.

Morrison had seen the elderly gentleman before and he knew him to be a gracious, godly man. As he watched the old saint go by Morrison felt the power of God’s presence, and a great sense of conviction of sin came over him. He dropped to his knees. And there, between the furrows in his field, alone, he gave his life to God.

When he concluded the story, Billy Graham earnestly prayed, “Oh, God, make me a holy man, a holy man.” 

-- David Roper in “A Beacon in the Darkness: Reflecting God’s Light in Today’s World”

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DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS

“By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”  (Galatians 5:22-23a NRSV)

Saint John of the Cross said that those who know God and what He is doing have three distinguishing characteristics -- tranquility, gentleness, and strength. That suggests to me an immense depth, an invulnerable steadiness, an ability to respond with kindness and care for others out of a center of quiet rest.

Frenzy, fury, hysteria, intensity, impatience, instability, pessimism, and every other kind of fuss and ferocity are marks of an immature soul. Those who know “that God works in tranquility,” as one old saint put it, are not like that. They share the calm and quiet nature of the One “who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.” (Ephesians 1:11)

-- David Roper in “A Beacon in the Darkness: Reflecting God’s Light in Today’s World”


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GOD’S TENDERNESS

"God takes care of His people like a shepherd. He gathers them like lambs in His arms and carries them close to Him." (Isaiah 40:11)

We have been touched by God's tenderness -- all the tenderness of a gentle father. God doesn't come quarreling and wrangling and forcing His way into anyone's heart. He comes into our hearts like a gentle lamb, not a roaring lion.

-- Max Lucado

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PUT ON GENTLENESS

"Put on, then, garments that suit God's chosen and beloved people: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience." (Colossians 3:12 REB)

[We] call it gentleness, but the Greeks called it praotes. Aristotle said that praotes was the perfect mean between too little anger and too much anger.

[You] thought anger was always bad?

Not at all.  No reform movement would ever have happened if someone hadn't gotten angry about the state of things as they found them.  It was when people grew angry about slavery that its death knell was sounded.  So, too, with child labor.

But the problem is to harness that anger.  That's where praotes -- gentleness -- comes in.  Anger destroys even in the name of great causes; without restraint, anger will defeat the very matters it endorses.  And our usual brand of self-control won't make it.  As William Barclay used to say, we need to be God-controlled.  That’s gentleness.  Because gentleness is power under purposeful direction.

-- J. Ellsworth Kalas in New Testament Stories from the Back Side

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TURNING AWAY ANGER

Whether at work or at home or in some other setting, you know what it's like when someone gets mad, gets their feelings hurt, and accuses you of something you didn't do. Instead of coming to find out what really happened or to talk it out calmly, they start right in with the accusations.

First reaction is what? "If they've got the nerve to come in here blaming me for things they don't even know about, they'd better have the guts to hear what I think of it… and of them."

Same thing happened to an Old Testament hero named Gideon, who famously took 300 men on a nighttime raid of a huge enemy encampment, armed with nothing more than trumpets, torches, and a bunch of empty jars. When God gave this tiny band an unlikely victory, some of the other fighting men of Israel swooped over to get into the action. But they were steamed that Gideon hadn't seen them fit to be part of the initial attack. "They criticized him sharply," the Bible says at the beginning of Judges 8. Still, instead of getting into a shouting match, he calmly told them he wasn't half the fighting man they were. Cooler heads carried the day. "At this, their resentment against him subsided."

Remember this:  "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Proverbs 15:1). Next time someone wants to start something, let your low-key response put an end to it. 

-- Joe Gibbs in Game Plan for Life Two-Minute Drills 

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THREE DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS

Saint John of the Cross said that those who know God and what He is doing have three distinguishing characteristics -- tranquility, gentleness, and strength. That suggests to me an immense depth, an invulnerable steadiness, an ability to respond with kindness and care for others out of a center of quiet rest.

Frenzy, fury, hysteria, intensity, impatience, instability, pessimism, and every other kind of fuss and ferocity are marks of an immature soul. Those who know that God "works in tranquility," as one old saint put it, are not like that. They share the calm and quiet nature of the One "who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will" (Ephesians 1:11).

-- David Roper in Seeing Through


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