Gentleness is Part of the Fruit of Spirit

When I was 20, I was a tank running over any Christian in my path. I was also a Bible Nazi which saved me and my friends. For one day I discovered to my horror that Gentleness is part of the fruit of the Spirit!  There it was in black and white. It was hard to deny. I did argue that gentleness is relentless forward movement. However, back to gentleness. Gentleness is part of the Fruit of the Spirit, really.

Men are often not very good at gentleness. Die Hard fans like me are not very good at gentleness either, but God has it and we can see it in Jesus. Let’s look at this more.

In John 2, Jesus in anger takes a whip and drives out the sheep and overturns the tables of the money changers. He was anything but gentle. Then in John 4, Jesus is very gentle to the Samaritan woman and again in John 8, we see he is gentle to the woman caught in adultery.

As the creator, we can see that God is softer than a kind mother and stricter then a rule bound father.

He knows how to adapt to what different situations need. At age 20 I was rule bound and strict with myself and my close friends. God caught me that day seeing gentleness. It is no use to think God will change. Hr created tough and gentle as he has both to the extreme and in his hands they are good.

Gentleness is Part of the Fruit of Spirit That Jesus Shows Sometimes

When the religious authorities are cheating people in the temple courts by making them use temple money and not Caesar’s money, they are making money on the exchange. They make people buy their high price sheep and say others are not without blemish. Jesus sees they make money this way to, and he hates that they are doing this to simple people just trying to find God. To these cheaters, Jesus is tough and dumps over their tables.

To the women in John, he is uniformly gentle. To the children, he is gentle. To the religious authorities who are cheating the people., he is furious.

We need to see the people and know hen to say nothing, know when to be gentle, and know when to be tough. god made them all and they have their place.

I once ran a Christian charity doing micro finance for poor people in China. We would harass people who refused to pay back by calling them in the middle of the night or call their mother. A Christian leader said our method was not Christian. I said “We have not followed Jesus till we have over turned the tables to get justice.”  Some people had trouble and really could not pay, and we would be gentle with them and work out a way.

My small children needed boundaries and guidance to grow up. They also needed understanding and grace and ,yes, gentleness from their Dad.

So glad God got my attention that day long ago.