Gentleness
Definition: The quality of being calm, kind, or soft; not severe, rough, strong, or violent.
Synonyms: Affable, mild, tender, kind, placid, docile, tame, meek, submissive, compliant, passive, humble, timid, amenable, accommodating, acquiescent, willing
Antonyms: Cruelty, hardness, harshness, penalty, punishment, revenge, rigor, severity, sternness, pride, vengeance, anger, fighting, argumentative.
Gentleness and/or meekness is a quality of heart we should have when receiving direction from God.
Psalm 25:9 (KJV)
The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.
James 1:21
Receive the word with “humility, meekness, gentleness,” Not with anger (James 1:19-21).
Zechariah 7:11-12
They made their hearts like “flint” (KJV – “adamant stone;” ESV – “diamond hard”). When receiving from God, we should have a quality of gentleness, not hard-heartedness.
The fruit of gentleness should guide our hearts in dealing with others.
Galatians 6:1 The spirit of gentleness is how we should approach someone caught up in sin.
2 Timothy 2:23-26 We are not to be quarrelsome with those who oppose us. Rather, the fruit of gentleness should be our guide.
The Apostle Paul was not always gentle before his conversion.
1 Timothy 1:12-13; Acts 8:3; 9:1-2; 22:3-5; 26:9-18 He had an encounter with Jesus, and his life changed.
Paul changed from the inside out. Where he was once “furiously enraged” in persecuting the church, Paul changed to a man with a gentle spirit.
1 Thessalonians 2:5-8 This is how the Apostle Paul was among the churches in Thessalonica – “gentle, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children.”
This is how Jesus is with us. We come to him, drawn by his gentleness towards us.
Matthews 11:28-30
We should display this fruit of gentleness toward others.
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