Meekness and Gentleness

With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a Gentle tongue will break a bone. Proverbs 25:15

Meekness and Gentleness are related depending on how we use them today. The word meek means, quiet, gentle, easily imposed on, and submissive. And the word gentle means, mild in temperament, or behavior, kind or tender. Therefore the way we use the words “meek” and “gentle” today are nearly equal with the idea of having a mild disposition.

Someone once said “we work to have restraint and self-control, develop gentle character, and develop humility” Today; it is discovered that most of the world’s cultures have reserved their rewards for people who compete successfully through strength of will and superior power. Most of our cultural heroes don’t have an ounce of meekness or Gentleness in them, yet, they are loved and celebrated

In contrast, the meek and gentle person is ridiculed for being weak and soft, and of no real value to society, and it is barely a desirable trait. But as Christians, we have the obligation to become meek and gentle.  Colossians 3:12 says, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. And so, the Biblical picture of gentleness and meekness connotes Strength. We should not, therefore as Christians, confused meekness and gentleness with weakness of either personality or character.

Abraham was meek and Gentle Gen. 13:8-9, Moses was meek and gentle Numbers 12:3 and our Lord Jesus Christ was a superb example of idyllic meekness and gentleness. Isaiah 53:1-12.

A meek and gentle person therefore does not over react, they are not driven by their own emotions, a gentle and meek person disarms critics, meekness and gentleness diffuses conflict. And so as Christians let us always have it at the back of our minds that meekness and gentleness is not weakness or being deficient in spirit and courage but rather, it is ones strength under God’s control. Remember Matthew 5:5 states that “blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth”

May the good Lord grant us all the Spirit of meekness and gentleness in Jesus name. Amen.

No wonder Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, defines meekness as: Enduring injury with patience and without resentment, a sort of putting up with other people’s junk, taking it, and not holding it against them. It also went further to define it as being deficient in spirit and courage.

Now the bible has its own stand point as regards the place of meekness and gentleness. It defines Meekness and gentleness as Strength under control. That is strength under God’s control.

Meekness which is (strength under control, maintaining peace in the midst of confrontations) is practiced when one restores a badly behaving Christian or in dealing with a newly called individual.

What is the word picture of gentleness and meekness? Or what is the quality of gentleness and meekness? The biblical picture of gentleness and meekness should not be confused with feebleness, spinelessness and indolence. Nor should we accept the mistaken viewpoint that the Bible’s picture of gentleness and meekness somehow connotes something which is not strong or able to endure hardship. Being gentle and meek should not be confused with weakness of either personality or character. We must not mistake “meek” for “weak

So in the 2nd Corinthian passage, in verse 1 he says he’s appealing to them ”by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.” He says this because it’s Christ’s authority that gives Paul his own authority and it’s in Christ that he boasts, not in himself.  Christ commends him, so he is bold in his faith, and bold in Christ, but Paul’s goal is to do so out of a posture of meekness and gentleness—that which comes directly from knowing Christ.  Paul takes on Christ’s own meekness and gentleness when he talks to them, he knows that he must be dependent on Christ in order to be meek at all (and this is how he keeps from being overly impressed with his own position in the church).

CONCLUSION

The picture of gentleness and meekness, par excellence, is beautifully exemplified in the life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We have all been invited to enroll in the school of Christ that we may learn “His way of life,” that is, his way of gentleness and meekness. Gentle meekness is a part of God’s character as He moves triumphantly in mighty power and victory. God wants you and me to be meek heroes. He can help us to become meek heroes and He has left this attractive picture of how we can become meek heroes: “Life is disciplinary. While in the world, the Christian will meet with adverse influences. There will be provocations to test the temper; and it is by meeting these in a right spirit that the Christian graces are developed. If injuries and insults are meekly borne, if insulting words are responded to by gentle answers, and oppressive acts by kindness, this is evidence that the Spirit of Christ dwells in the heart, that sap from the living Vine is flowing to the branches. We are in the school of Christ in this life, where we are to learn to be meek and lowly of heart; and in the day of final accounts we shall see that all the obstacles we meet, all the hardships and annoyances that we are called to bear, are practical lessons in the application of principles of Christian life. If well endured, they develop the Christlikeness in the character and distinguish the Christian from the worldling” (Testimonies for the Church, Vol.5, p.344).