The Fruit of Gentleness: Towards Non-Believers

by Daniel Burton

What does the world see when they view the public faith of believers? Or, enter yet, what do they see when they look at my public display of faith? This question seems to constantly hover over my soul. When the world sees the Christian, they should see the embodiment of Jesus Christ. The hand of God should reach through ours to impact the world. Yet, we must remember that gentleness is a sign of a spirit filled life for the believer. Too often, in the face of persecution, trials, or other difficulties, we revert to our fleshly response. The clearest example being American politics. Gentleness has been abdandonded in seeking to display our rightness. Yet, in doing so, people do not see the Risen Lord but the decay of flesh and corruption. To the non-believer, the Christian must remain vigilant in their strength of character by allowing the gentleness of the Holy Spirit to flow through us, even during the difficult time.

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

– Colossians 4:2-6, ESV

For or Against

In our culture, it has become way too easy to define our Christianity by what we stand against. In politics and issues of life, we often jump quickly to outrage that comes from people we disagree with. We see a headline and our knee jerk reaction is to jump to social media to post our reactions. We judge and declare things moral outrages and willingly throw aside those who stand outside of the faith as being godless and harbingers of the end of society and culture. This melodramatic response that lacks all forms of gentleness and grace towards those outside of the church paints the picture of Christians as contrarians. Christians become defined by what they stand against rather than what we stand for.

When we define our identity by what we stand against rather than what we stand for, we diminish the Gospel to a works based faith that requires holiness as a prerequisite for approaching God. Rather than becoming known for the behaviors we stand against, we can express the fruit of gentleness by conveying the grace of the Gospel we stand for. Our primary message should be Jesus Christ crucified for the sins of mankind as we pronounce a love for all people. Then, when our faith requires that we stand against the actions of the world, we can do so communicating that Jesus offers a different way that benefits man more than the selfish pursuit of fleshly gain. Rather than condemnation, our feelings are expressed with gentleness that seeks to restore man to the relationship with Jesus Christ. The outside world will see those whose devotion to Christ expresses itself through the cultural disagreements and persecution and the message of Christ will ring louder than any societal outrage will.

Anger with Gentleness

The temptation for Christians is to depict every Christian act as stoic. People quickly judge any form of anger as ungodly and going against the very tenants of faith and spirituality. Yet, to do so would fly in the face of not only authentic gentleness but even the works of Jesus Christ. Jesus often times became angry at the injustices of the world and the points where the people breached the conditions of holiness. In being angry, Christ demonstrated the strength the comes from God but with the same gentleness that endures through the anger. Jesus, in his anger against sin, sought to destroy the effects and consequences of sin in the lives of the world. Anger demonstrates itself with gentleness. Anger directs itself to the true enemy of God, the embodiment of evil; sin and the Satan who accuses mankind and seeks their own destruction. To direct our anger towards anything other than that would diminish the Gospel that Jesus Christ extended to all people.

As we stand for the truth and grace of the Gospel, we will inevitably become angry at some point. This is fine. We must be intentional about expressing our anger in gentleness as we pursue truth and extend grace to those around us. This involves speaking the truth about the reality of the decisions of mankind while still presenting the grace of the Gospel to those same people. In Christ’s anger, Christ worked in strength to treat mankind with gentleness despite their sinful and rebellious nature, to pave a path back to Him. The same should be true with Christians. In our anger, we treat the unchurched or the dechurched with gentleness to show them the love of God. This is the wisdom Paul refers to in Colossians. We speak with graciousness and gentleness to the outsiders because we know with full confidence that they have not departed from the reach of God. If our God can reach us, then there is hope for any sinner.