Weapons for the Believer 4.7 – The Fruit of the Spirit - Gentleness

Weapons for the Believer 4.7 – The Fruit of the Spirit - Gentleness

According to Paul, there are weapons of warfare.

2 Corinthians 10:3-4 (ESV)

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

We are considering ten weapons that the Believer has at their disposal. We looked earlier at The Fruit of the Spirit in the post “Weapons for the Believer 4.” If you haven’t read it I encourage you to do so.  Paul gives us the list in Galatians.

Galatians 5:22 (ESV)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

The original post on The Fruit of the Spirit (Weapons for the Believer 4) I mentioned a popular way of looking at this topic. Some teach that the Fruit of the Spirit is singular, Love, with each of the other fruit coming from the one. If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to go back and read it.

Now I’m considering each Fruit of the Spirit in this manner. This time we are looking at Gentleness. Using Gentleness as the focus let’s see how it is reflected in our experience with the Lord.

            The Fruit of the Spirit is Gentleness.

Love is the language of Gentleness.

Joy is the inflow of Gentleness.

Peace is the instructor of Gentleness.

Patience is the assurance of Gentleness.

Kindness is the language of Gentleness.

Goodness is the attitude of Gentleness.

Faithfulness is the encourager of Gentleness.

Self-control is the picture of Gentleness.

I have never been known as a patient, kind, or gentle person. It was one of the greatest concerns I had when considering becoming a father. I did not want to be an example of anger or short-temper to my children. I wanted them to reflect the Fruit of what could be in their life through the Holy Spirit. I knew it was something that had to come from Him, not me.

Not to my credit, but wholly to the glory of God, my children are some of the kindest, most gentle people I know. My children are magnets for people that are hurting because they know they will find a kind word and a gentle response from them. This pleases me more than anything else. They show the Fruit of the Spirit in their lives. Of course, any of you that know my wife would certainly credit her for how they turned out. I could not agree more! We came to an understanding early that anything good in our children came from her.

Gentleness is a magnet. People are drawn to it because everyone wants to be treated with honor and respect. Unfortunately there is not much of it in our culture these days. That needs to change. Even the Church has a reputation of being hard and cruel when dealing with people both inside and outside their walls.

Jesus attracted people because of His kind and gentle response. The only ones He spoke to in a harsh manner were those of the pious, religious sort that felt they knew everything about God and were His only ambassadors on the planet. Jesus was quick to point out that they did not the Father at all, because if they did, they would certainly act differently. The same can be said of some in the Church today. Usually harshness comes from a place of injury. If Believers have not yet experienced total healing in their soul they can lash out from those places of pain to hurt others, sometimes not even knowing that they are doing so. That is why we must seek the help of the Holy Spirit.

The result of the Holy Spirit’s work in us will be the outflow of the Gifts that He produces in us; Gentleness being one of them. It is only by the Spirit that we can respond in a gentle manner consistently. Self-effort will never produce lasting fruit. This kind only comes as the result of yielding to the Holy Spirit’s guidance.