Gentleness......

Happy Monday Ladies! I trust that you all had a wonderful weekend, mine was really busy.

Last week I was a little slow on finishing my Fruit of the Spirit - Gentleness, but I am glad I waited to write about it cause this was also Greenhouses Fruit for the week.  Pastor Ryan Beacher did a wonderful job talking about Gentleness. Gentleness is not a word you hear very often. Instead you hear words like kind, benevolent, courteous, compassionate, and merciful, which are Gentleness in action. Gentleness has three important aspects: submission, humility and teach-ability. These three components make up a gentle behavior that can only be obtained through complete surrender and faith.

One of the biggest things that makes it difficult for the Spirit to develop this Fruit in our lives is our Pride. We tend to have more experience with gentleness' evil twin which is displayed through anger, rudeness, sarcasm, unkindness and lack of compassion.  Gentleness is an ability and desire to treat and deal with others in a manner that is better than what their behavior or actions deserve.

 When it comes to showing gentleness to others it is necessary to be relative, relational and relevant. Which is exactly what Jesus did with the woman at the well. Jews and Samaritans did not think much of each other and they did not talk to each other either, and here is Jesus asking a Samaritan woman for water. Confused that this Jew was speaking to her and asking for water, she did not realize that the water she could provide for Him was nothing compared to the living water He could provide for her. As Jesus connected with her and told her all about her life, He gently helped her to see that there is something better for her life. He spoke truth, but not in a condemning way, as we as Christians have been known to do.

It's not always easy to practice gentleness, but the Fruit of the Spirit, all of them, are what set us apart. These are the evidence of Christ in us, because the more we surrender to His will, the more we become and appear to others as like Christ. Gandhi once said: "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ".  Sad, but true in many cases. Sometimes as a  Christian we get a taste of God's grace and goodness, we surrender our sins but not ourselves. We are so concerned with being "saved" that we fall short of what being a Christian is all about and that is allowing Him to do the  necessary work in  us to help us become more like Him so that we can be His arms extended to this world.

The Fruit of the Spirit is the heart of God that He wants to develop in  us, through His Spirit, if we willingly surrender our control, all of it. I know this is not an easy task for any of us. We are always in control or managing mode, and some of us like it  that  way,  but if we could begin to allow Him to work in our lives, it would be nice to have someone we can trust to control and manage us.

Definitely more to gentleness than I expected. Have a nice day :) Attached is the link for the Message by Ryan Beacher on Gentleness: Gentleness - Ryan Beacher @ Greenhouse Church