Tales from a Mother: Fruits of the Spirit: Day 9

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Fruits of the Spirit: Day 9 - Gentleness

Galatians 5:22-23 -- "But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!"

We live in a harsh, fast-paced, and loud world. It is no surprise that we can easily become stressed, bitter and boisterous. Many times through trials and struggles, the gentleness of our hearts disappears.

It is not an easy thing to be set apart from the world, but that is what God calls us to do as His Holy people. We are to turn down the normal ways to deal with problems we face and have faith that God will provide for us.

We must set aside our response of anger, revenge and malice to take on characteristics of Christ. The Lord may not deal with others in the way we want Him to, but His is not worried about our sinful pride. He is a just God and the sin of the world will be judged. It is none of our concern as to how He does it, only to have faith it will be done.

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2 Timothy 2:24-26 -- "A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants."

We must be kind to others, always in an attempt to show love and mercy instead of hate. We must answer and correct with gentleness and compassion. We cannot change the hearts of people, but God can.

When we respond to others with hate, harsh words and contempt, we can easily drive them away from God. When we, as Christians, do not show the love of Christ, the people do not care to know Christ at all. We must be careful not to judge others. The world is full of sin. Jesus would not have needed to comes save it if it wasn't.

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Matthew 7:1 -- "Do not judge others, and you will not be judged."

We must approach others in gentleness because when the tides turn, we also want to be approached with gentleness and compassion, not accusation.

Proverbs 25:15 -- "Patience can persuade a prince, and soft speech can break bones."

There are moments in life when a gentle Spirit can tear down walls that the strongest words or well versed argument can't touch. Sometimes we need to remember that it is okay to be human, to be imperfect, because God loves us anyway. And He forgives, even builds on our mistakes. It does not give us a pass to sin; instead, it allows us to show compassion and gentleness to others despite sin, even to ourselves. No matter how great or small the sin, love is always greater than evil.