Like I said before, gentleness and kindness are very closely related. When you think of a kind person, you often associate gentleness with them. When they talk to others, they more often than not have a soft, soothing tone. You don’t hear a gentle person yelling at the top of their lungs in your face “HEY YOU LOOK REALLY NICE TODAY!” And these people are generally nice people. Then again, gentleness is not just the tone of your voice either, understand this. Gentleness has much to do with correction, discipline, things like these. Gentleness is required in order to do these types of things correctly.
Take for example a parent disciplining their children. This ought to be done in gentleness, however you see it all over the place children getting beat abusively by their father, typically, and then calling it discipline. Well, that is actually counterproductive, that is, beating your children out of anger, or correcting someone when they’re wrong about something, doing it with anger, or with a sense of pride as if the one correcting is better and has every right to be impatient with the one who is being corrected.
When I was a child, I have no problem saying that I was spanked. Why? Because it certainly did teach me something. My parents would discipline me in love, with gentleness – they would explain to me why I would be receiving the spanking and why this was needed. Proverbs 13:24 says “He who withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently”. Now you may say “What’s so gentle about your parents spanking you?” How about this – it isn’t coming out in the form of a black eye! And the fact that whoever is doing the correcting is doing it with gentleness, the one who is receiving correction will be MUCH MORE LIKELY to actually receive it and learn from it rather than continue in the wrong way and hold bitterness against the one who corrected.
We know that Jesus was gentle. In Matthew 11:28 , Jesus said “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, 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”. This passage clearly indicates that gentleness is of the heart and Galatians says it’s a fruit of the Spirit, so we know it’s not just words but a heart condition.
If you’d say, “Man, I’m just not a gentle person…I’m mean, I’m rough, I want my heart to be right, I want to be gentle”. Well I have good news for you – you can be. Jesus told us to come to Him, to learn from Him. How do we learn from Him. Jesus is the Word made flesh. Look into the Bible, that’s where you learn all about Him – that’s where it all starts. So go to Him, go to the Word and learn from Him, He’ll teach you how to be gentle. It’s another step to becoming just like Him!
Great insight Josiah. It is easy to see heart and desire to delve deeper into the Holy Place, the Holy of Holies. God, in His perfection, knows how to discipline emphatically yet gently.
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