{"id":4388,"date":"2018-01-28T09:00:33","date_gmt":"2018-01-28T15:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4388"},"modified":"2018-01-08T18:38:36","modified_gmt":"2018-01-09T00:38:36","slug":"choose-to-be-gentle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4388","title":{"rendered":"Choose to Be Gentle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By Barbara Dahlgren<\/em><\/p>\n

Yet Another Year of Choices\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>One fruit of the Holy Spirit is gentleness. (Galatians 5:22) The Greek word for gentleness is \u201cprautes\u201d or \u201cpraotes\u201d which means gentle, meek, and to have a \u201cgrace of the soul.\u201d Gentleness and meekness are interchangeable in some Bible translations like the NKJV.<\/p>\n

The Bible places great importance on gentleness or meekness. It says the meek will inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5) However, meek isn\u2019t a very popular or common word today. Our society is obsessed with being aggressive. To get ahead you must swim with the sharks. It\u2019s a dog-eat-dog world and wimpy people get gobbled up pretty fast. However, associating meekness with weakness is a big mistake. Gentleness or meekness is not weakness. Jesus described Himself as a meek man and He was far from a weak, spineless jellyfish, flip-flopping around issues. (Matthew 11:29) He was not indifferent to His surrounds or the needs of others.<\/p>\n

Many legendary historical figures like Lincoln, Gandhi, Einstein, and Mother Teresa have been gentle and meek, but not timid. They didn\u2019t need to project their importance to others. They had purpose and the ability to stand in the face of every obstacle thrown their way. This inner resolve is very precious to God. (1 Peter 3:4) It actually takes a great deal of inner strength to be really gentle. Gentleness has been described as strength under control.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting to note that the word \u201cgentle\u201d was rarely heard before the Christian era, and the word gentleman was not known. This high quality of character was actually a direct by-product of the Christian era.<\/p>\n

Being gentle or meek translates into what we think of ourselves and we what we think of others.<\/p>\n

How do we treat others when we have power over them? Blessed is the person who doesn\u2019t think more highly of himself than he ought to when others are praising and promoting him as compared to the time in life when he was a virtual nobody.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We need to be gentle in the words we speak. (Proverbs 15:1; Proverbs 25:11-15) We need to be gentle in how we treat others. (1 Thessalonians 2:7) Our gentleness should be evident to all. (Philippians 4:5) It\u2019s not our beauty God values, but our gentle spirit. (1 Peter 3:4) A gentle spirit is not confrontational. (1 Corinthians 4:21) A spirit of gentleness is kind to those who make mistakes and knows that \u201cthere but for the grace of God go I!\u201d (Galatians 6:1) God called us to walk with a spirit of gentleness. (Ephesians 4:1) When called upon to give an answer, one who possesses godly gentleness does so confidently \u2013 not with an \u201cin your face\u201d attitude, but one with gentleness and respect. (1 Peter 3:15)<\/p>\n

Consider this\u2026 People with gentle spirits do not impute wrong motives to others while self-justifying their own behavior which is illustrated in this narrative:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Other Fellow<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the other fellow takes a long time, he\u2019s slow.<\/p>\n

When I take a long time, I\u2019m thorough.<\/p>\n

When the other fellow doesn\u2019t do it, he\u2019s lazy.<\/p>\n

When I don\u2019t do it, I\u2019m busy.<\/p>\n

When the other fellow does something without being told, he\u2019s overstepping his bounds.<\/p>\n

When I do it, I\u2019m taking initiative.<\/p>\n

When the other fellow overlooks a rule of etiquette, he\u2019s rude.<\/p>\n

When I skip the rules, I\u2019m original.<\/p>\n

When the other fellow pleases the boss, he\u2019s an apple-polisher.<\/p>\n

When I please the boss, I\u2019m cooperating.<\/p>\n

When the other fellow gets ahead, he\u2019s getting the breaks.<\/p>\n

When I manage to get ahead, it\u2019s because I\u2019ve worked hard.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0One final thought\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

A gentle spirit will treat those under them like they would want to be treated \u2013 not just because it\u2019s the right thing to do, but because they know they might be working for them one day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Barbara Dahlgren Yet Another Year of Choices\u2026 \u00a0One fruit of the Holy Spirit is gentleness. (Galatians 5:22) The Greek word for gentleness is \u201cprautes\u201d or \u201cpraotes\u201d which means gentle, meek, and to have a \u201cgrace of the soul.\u201d Gentleness … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4388"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4388\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}