Are You Gentle? - Protestant Caucus/Devotional

We’ve determined that gentleness is essential for those who want to walk worthy. How can you tell if you’re gentle? I’ll give you some practical questions so you can evaluate yourself honestly.

First of all, are you self-controlled? Do you rule your own spirit (Prov. 16:32), or does your temper often flare up? When someone accuses you of something, do you immediately defend yourself, or are you more inclined to consider whether there’s any truth in what’s being said?

Second, are you infuriated only when God is dishonored? Do you get angry about sin or when God’s Word is perverted by false teachers?

Next, do you always seek to make peace? Gentle people are peacemakers. Ephesians 4:3 says they are “diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” If someone falls into sin, do you condemn or gossip about that person? Galatians 6:1 instructs us to restore sinning brothers “in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted.” Gossip and condemnation divide believers; forgiveness and restoration unite them. Gentle people don’t start fights; they end them.

Fourth, do you accept criticism without retaliation? Whether the criticism is right or wrong, you shouldn’t strike back. In fact, you can thank your critics, because criticism can show you your weaknesses and help you grow.

Finally, do you have the right attitude toward the unsaved? Peter says, “Always [be] ready to make a defense to every one who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:15). If we’re persecuted, it’s easy for us to think, They can’t treat me like that—I’m a child of God. But God wants us to approach the unsaved with gentleness, realizing that God reached out to us with gentleness before we were saved (Titus 3:3-7).

Consider carefully your answers to these questions, and commit yourself to being characterized by gentleness. Remember that “a gentle and quiet spirit . . . is precious in the sight of God” (1 Peter 3:4).

If any of these questions have pointed out deficiencies in your gentleness, ask God to strengthen those areas.

Paul was often criticized by those who wanted to usurp his authority over the church. Study Paul’s response to such people in 2 Timothy 2:24-26.

When studying all of God's Word, and considering the context overall. it is seen that Jesus' response to any situation covered the whole range of human emotion, but always precisely fitting to the occasion, never incorrect. His gentleness was but one of those attitudinal behaviors, never arrogant, never displaying an injudicious display of His power, either administrative or of force.

One occasion of a calculated emotional outburst was exemplified thus:

John 7:25-30 (AV)

²⁵Then said some of them of Jerusalem,
Is not this he, whom they^{the religious leaders} seek to kill? ²⁶But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? ²⁷Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.
²⁸Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying,
Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. ²⁹But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me.
²⁵Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.

Not so gentle, as Marvin Vincent in his "Word Studies in the New Testament" observes:

Then (οὗν)
Rev^{ised Version}., rightly, therefore, giving the reason for the succeeding words in Jesus' emotion awakened by the misconceptions of the people.

Cried (ἔκραξεν)
See on Mk. 5:5; see on Mk. 9:24 (cried out).

As He taught (διδάσκων)
Better, Rev., teaching. The expression cried teaching implies speaking in a peculiarly solemn manner and with an elevation of voice.

Me - whence I am
Conceding the truth of the people's statement in Jn. 7:27 (above), we know this man whence he is, so far as His outward person and His earthly origin were concerned. He goes on to show that they are ignorant of His divine relationship.

True (ἀληθινὸς)
True to the ideal of a sender: a genuine sender in the highest sense of the term. See on Jn. 1:9.

JMac subtly reminds us in his supplemental questions regarding this passage, that one's gentleness may be not as simplistic as it might seem. The fitness of one's response to life's physical, emotional, and/or spiritual challenges is a reliable measure of one's spiritual maturity, and the basis upon which Christ's servant is accorded an office of guiding the assembly by them, to be heard and advice enacted upon by the brethren, without irrationally divisive responses.

MacArthur brings to our attention for meditation a quality of behavior to be pondered on and willingly sought, that our Savior may be satisfied and pleased, as well as our companions in The Faith.

God’s Word, so often, for now, ignored.

Christian gentleness is not the message that comes from Hollywood.

“Finally, do you have the right attitude toward the unsaved?”

That’s so important. God desires all to be saved, and He’s given believers the ministry of reconciliation. In any godless group that’s opposing Christ, we have to assume that there may be a remnant there. And we’re to be humble about it because we ourselves came out of such groups. Apart from Christ’s sacrifice for us, eternity in Hell would inevitably be our fate. He loved us, His vile, ungodly, sinful enemies, so desiring to save us from Hell that He suffered and died for us. And He teaches us that as He had love and mercy on utterly unworthy us, while passionately focused on saving His enemies, we should then go forth sharing His heart for those yet lost, and in His work.

But even in the church today, many people “look beautiful,” like the Pharisees that Jesus said were like white-washed tombs.

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