A Life Fulfilled with the Fruit of the Spirit

The Fruit of the Holy Spirit and Its Fifth Attribute in Poetic Form Gentleness (Kindness) Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. —Philippians 4:5

Gentleness (Kindness)

Mornings, feeling bright and new— Mountain grass covered in dew, Often seeking just a few. Softened breezes gently blew: Breathe with me from God’s first pew. My day, my life—O, how I grew.

Amazed in quiet, sweet refrain, I rise and come, lightly abstain. Worldly lust is not my gain. Acquaintances politely in disdain. Carefully responding, I sustain, Wisdom words from lips ordain. My faith unbridles and ingrains.

I am of good and never crude— A thought, a gentle attitude. Jesus ,my Lord, sweet servitude Taught best my beatitude. I seek and find infinitude, Mores of quietude.

Attribute Five—Gentleness We are beginning to observe the unfolding wisdom of God in how He places one attribute after another. It is befitting that gentleness should follow longsuffering/patience. He took His time in processing in us longsuffering to nurture us to possessing trust in Him. The deepened resilience and strength become gentle through the bitterness of life. Our carnal senses would have the opposite. It is quite natural to become bitter through the difficulties; however, the fruit of the Spirit says that through life’s harshness, we acquire His sweetness. Being gentle is sweet; in the natural, we understand it as having the quality of a soft touch or approach. How sweet it would be if as we walked further in faith, we approached life’s adversities with gentleness. The book of Proverbs chapter 15:1 says; “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger." We often think that a harsh response should rebuke and refute the storm of arguments but realize we have just added fuel to the fire. Gentleness is often needed in life’s toughest of battles to remove the sting and hurtful ingredients that would continue to cause more days of aggression. We come to the infinite knowledge that longsuffering gives us the ability to continue in sweet gentleness coupled with patience—a softness of soul. The juxtaposition of patience and gentleness helps us continue our walk of faith. One feeds the other, and the former is reinforced by the latter. As we come into our circumstances, patience builds up our dependence on God’s strength and faithfulness. Later on, the gentleness of the Holy Spirit mounts our character to refute or disprove any notion of frustration caused by our flesh and reminds us to be of good cheer because He has overcome the world. He who is with us is greater than he who is in the world. We have to marvel at how our God intertwines qualities in our character to make us conform to the image of His Son. The longer the period of patience for the saint, the gentler the believer must become while waiting on the Lord. He or she learns to be sweet in the face of adversity. The surrendered soul learns that things should never be done his or her way but God’s way; life is always in our Father’s hand. We must endure nights of longsuffering to awake in the daylight of gentleness and sing that it is well with our souls. We may have lost all of what used to be of meaning and importance to us, but it is well with our souls. We may not fully understand everything. But we forget those things that are behind us and reach forth to the crown before us. Becoming more like Jesus, we press on. Now listen and understand that there are times that call for a tough approach, and with discernment, we will know the difference in its particular application as we mature. However, gentleness supersedes all our reactions. The gospel writer John recorded the story of a woman caught in adultery and brought before Jesus. Look at the calmness of Jesus in John 8:1–11. He wrote on the ground while the roar and fury of their accusations against her reached their crescendo. “They said to Him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” (John 8:4–5 NKJV) There might have been a rebuttal from Jesus addressing their lack of adhesion to the law at hand; where was the man who was also caught in the act of adultery? He might have said, “How dare you circumvent the proceedings of the legal framework of the Mosaic laws by not bringing him caught in the act as well?” (Leviticus 20:10) However, we read in John 8:7c, that Jesus stated gently, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” and Jesus stooped down again, and wrote on the ground with his finger. Those in the angry mob left one by one. They had wished to trap Jesus and exact partial justice on a woman but left disbanded. The group was overruled by the wisdom and gentleness of the answers of Jesus Christ, the refresher and restorer of souls. Gentleness asks that we apply all our efforts in being good toward one another in the Lord. St. Paul reminds us in the following verses that there is always a better approach given to us. We have been given the ministry of reconciliation and can change people by the grace of God and the guidance of His Holy Spirit with gentleness. We should live “in purity, understanding, patience, and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left” (2 Corinthians 6:6–7). May the God of peace bless you, dear hearts, in remaining in gentleness in Jesus Christ’s name. In Him, we have our very existence and are able to continue the course.