"And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men..."

                            -II Timothy 2:24 

The next fruit of the Spirit we are going to examine in this series is gentleness. However, I think that in order for us to really understand what it means to be gentle, we must first understand what it does not mean. Being gentle means not being harsh or austere in our dealings with others, but instead being kind, compassionate and, as we saw yesterday, longsuffering.

Oftentimes the way in which we handle a given situation has a direct impact on the end result. For example, we might have the right words to say to a close friend, but if they are not delivered in a spirit of love and humility (see Ephesians 4:15), then there will doubtless be negative consequences, and therefore any good that might have been otherwise accomplished will be replaced by anger and hurt feelings. But on the other hand, if we make a special effort to be gentle and polite toward those around us, we will likely bear much more fruit in our labor for the Lord due to that person's consequential increased receptiveness and eagerness to receive our testimony.

Have you ever had somebody treat you rudely? If so, how did it make you feel? I'm confident that you didn't esteem that individual too highly from then on, and that, if they were a Christian, they severely hindered their witness for the Lord. If we don't want people to look at us that way, then let's make an intentional effort to treat everybody we come into contact with with a spirit of gentleness.

"Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;"

                            -Romans 12:10