MONDAY MORNING

"Let your gentleness be evident..."

"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." -- Proverbs 15:1

"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." -- Matthew 11:29

"What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit?" -- I Corinthians 4:21

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law." -- Galatians 5:22-23

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

When I was much, much younger, my mother once wrote Proverbs 15:1 on a piece of cardboard and nailed it to a wall in the bedroom I shared with my younger brother.  It stayed there for years! With all these verse on gentleness or being gentle I am not saying to be a "push-over". My brother and I were not easily pushed over by each other. But, I grew wiser as he grew bigger and stronger.  Our last wrestling match (all in fun -- kinda) was when I was a sophomore in college. After a few minutes of rough housing I was on top and then slapped him in the face. It was then that I realized his strength -- he flipped me and pinned me to the floor in about 3 seconds! The next thing I knew I was being folded up like an accordion. And, it was after that wrestling match that I grew wiser. We both laugh about it to this day.

The prophecy in Zachariah 9:9 of Jesus coming "gentle and riding on a donkey" was fulfilled in Matthew 21:1-11. But, at verse 12 of the same chapter Jesus entered the temple, overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.  The Gospels of Mark and Luke state that Jesus began to drive them out. Wow! Jesus was no push-over. There is a time for righteous anger.  There is a time to uphold the Word of God and His standards of righteousness. There is a time to stand up and defend the fatherless, widow, the poor. Yet, yet --- there is a time that your gentleness is to be evident to all.

 So again, I am not saying be a "push-over". To be someone who is taken advantage of. No. There is a way in Christ to be gentle and yet stand firm. A gentle answer can help avoid a needless confrontation. A gentle answer can be the difference in making a friend or an enemy. There is a place for the Spirit of gentleness.

Bottom Line: May we learn to know when to be strong in the Lord and uphold His Word and may we learn to how to let our gentleness be evident to all because --- "The Lord is near." Amen? Amen.