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Galatians 5:22-23 NLT

'But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!'

The fruit of the Spirit includes “gentleness” among its qualities. Filled with God’s Spirit, we are to express each of these qualities equally. We are not to do well in one and fail in another. Nor are we to focus on any one above the others.

Gentleness can often be mistaken for a somewhat bland quality. Gentle people can go unnoticed or be mistakenly identified as weak and unassuming. Yet, gentleness itself means to be of the same clan, and so, more than all the qualities born of God’s Spirit, this is the clearest connection revealing the disciples’ relationship to God and each other (John 13:35). My own experience of genetics is that I most naturally reproduce the bad fruit that I observed and experienced from my biological father. For most of my life I’ve battled to master instinctive reactions and responses that remind me of my dad’s worst behaviour. At times I’ve despaired of being able to manage or change these.

So it is with relief I recognise that setting positive change to one side, I am born by the spirit of God to produce this quality of fruit because I am grafted into Jesus. Yet, I’m not satisfied with anything less than the nine-fruit tree the Spirit produces within me. So I need to take time to explore what gentleness might look like, and how might I best express such gentleness?

Gentleness is a disposition I can bring to life, a considered approach to whatever life presents me with. There is a Chinese proverb that says, “Deal with the faults of others as gently as with your own.”

QUESTION: How can you practise and grow in gentleness?

PRAYER: Loving Father, as you have dealt with me gently and not harshly, help me to deal gently with others, especially those close to me.