"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (Galatians 5:22)
Many men may draw back a bit from this next fruit, which is the quality of gentleness. Whether some of the liberals like it or not, Jesus was incarnated into a human flesh body - but this incarnation was done as a man - fully man and fully God. He was not incarnated into the body of a woman - no matter how any liberal tries to spin this basic fact, with many liberals trying to make God gender neutral.
Since Jesus walked our earth as a man - the Son of man - study His actions very carefully when you read the gospels and how He handled different types of people. There were times that He would engage and set people straight, like He did with some of the Scribes and Pharisees. But there were other times that He dealt with people very gently - with kindness and gentleness. His gentle way of handling some of these people is what really jumps out at you when you really study how He handled different types of people.
Again, Jesus is the perfect role model for us to study and learn from - especially with how He handled people while He was walking down here on our earth. For men in particular, His actions and behavior towards others should be a major study and we should seek to pattern our own walk after Him. And one of the qualities that He had operating in Him with great abundance was the quality of gentleness.
The quality of gentleness is another major quality needed in our world today. So many people have been beat up and hurt in their dealings with other people - that just a gentle word, a gentle touch from another Christian can really open up the door for that person to be able to receive Jesus and His healing, saving and deliverance power into their lives.
Once you really start walking in the Holy Spirit with His fruits operating and flowing through you - you'll really be able to feel and sense when you should handle a certain person or a certain type of situation with more of a touch of gentleness rather than with any kind of stern rebuke or condemnation. There is a time for tough love - but there are also times that just a gentle and loving touch is all that is really needed to properly handle a certain situation.
The Holy Spirit will guide you in all of this. Just realize that the quality of gentleness is one of the 9 fruits of the Spirit, and this is one of the fruits that He would really like to get worked into your personality - especially in being able to use it when dealing with and helping out others.
Parents really need this fruit operating through them, as it is very easy to get out of balance with the way you are correcting your children. Sometimes more of a tough love approach is needed, but at other times more of a gentle approach will be better suited for the situation.
If all your children ever hear from you are stern words of rebuke and criticism, and it is never properly balanced out with words and actions of love, kindness and gentleness - then after a certain period of time your children will start to pull away from you and they will have no more interest or desire in wanting to establish a good, solid, loving and deep personal relationship with you.
Now here are some of the different definitions on the quality of gentleness:
Mildness combined with tenderness
Gracious, kindly disposition, controlled strength
A disposition that is even-tempered, tranquil, balanced in spirit, unpretentious and that has passions under control
A character that is equitable, reasonable, forbearing, moderate, fair and considerate
Power and strength under control
Willing to pardon injuries, correct faults. One who rules his spirit well
Not only will other people love and gravitate towards you more if you learn how to walk in this quality - but you will be at much more peace with yourself since you won't always have to be fighting and striving with others when trying to help them out.
About The Author:
Article written by Michael Bradley, you can get the complete article on the fruit of the Spirit at http://www.bible-knowledge.com - and get 20% off retail on all Christian books at his online bookstore at http://www.bibleknowledgebookstore.com
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