I Timothy 6:11 “But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.”

DO I HAVE TO BE?

You know, when I read this verse I am good with all these things Paul lists here – except the last one – gentleness. Now I know that is one of the fruits of the Spirit. But come on – gentleness – really?

In this day it seems to me that if you are gentle, you get run over. People take advantage of you. You get pushed around. You can be snookered. I could continue but you get the drift.

But…..as I look at the others character traits he tells me to pursue I quickly realize that all of them build on the last. If I pursue righteousness, I will gain godliness. If I am godly in character, I will have the faith I need. If I have faithful, love is produced in me through the Holy Spirit. If I love all, I can persevere through anything. And if I know I can persevere, I can have that gentle quiet spirit because I rest in God.

TEACHING MOMENT

How about you? How are you teaching gentleness to your children? That is not easy. Once again, you have to model it. You have to point it out to them when you see others demonstrating gentleness. Boys, especially, have to be taught that being gentle is NOT being weak. Jesus Himself said “Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.” If Jesus, the Son of God, called Himself gentle we should embrace that characteristic.

I am getting on a plane tomorrow. Pray that I will be gentle as I go through the hassles of air travel. I want to be the gentle one on the plane. I want to be observed as gentle, but more than that, I want to be gentle in spirit so that it comes from the inside. Since Jesus lives through me, that shouldn’t be a problem if I will just get out of the way.