Articles
Gentleness
Many of us, if not all of us, have heard the saying before, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” In life we are often taught to be assertive and to fight fire with fire, that to do otherwise means we are weak, unfit, or unpassionate--not only when it comes to our actions but to our moral fiber as well. Jesus makes a compelling argument against these claims in Matthew 5:38-48.
Upon reflection I am sure we all have a memory of a time when we held onto anger or sought to return pain for pain caused. All this does is lead to prolonged anger and prolonged pain. It is in fact stronger to forgive or move on than let loose. Growing up I thought that, being stubborn and a wall. I bottled up everything I could while putting up a façade to allow everyone to believe I was okay. All the anger I stored eventually would come loose in smaller ways as I grew apathetic and ungentle to people who never did anything to hurt me. My sadness turned into self-pity and low self-esteem which lead to self-harm and more self-doubt. I no longer felt like me, but a stubborn wall of quick fixes that never truly ended the cycle. Just like in the first half of Galatians 6:8. Then I was humbled through suffering and given hope and strength just like in 1 Peter 5:10.
As Romans 15:13 and Romans 8 states, God is the God of hope. We can trust in that hope, in God. As Romans 8 also mentions, we will suffer and groan in our lives just as the world has done since the beginning. Yet as Christians we always talk about how we are different from the world, and this hope God gives us is one powerful way that we are. When we have hope and trust in good outcomes given by God, we can learn to be content in our strife, to take responsibility for ourselves without worrying about what others do or do to us temporarily, and how to be passionate yet gentle and loving.
When we learn to be content in our situation we can let go of our frustration and anger that may be vented towards others. When we worry less about others we can be confident in how we treat ourselves, how we let others treat us, and most importantly how we treat God and our faith. Finally, with the anger subsided and new-found confidence we can ensure that we are firm in God’s principles without being forceful. Just as we catch flies with honey not vinegar, we will save souls with gentleness and love--not force.
