Vol. 17 No. 50 | December 15, 2014
“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” (Philippians 4:5, NIV)
As I write these words we are consumed with the holidays and all that goes with it. Children are barely able to contain their excitement. Parents are scrambling to make sure the right presents are purchased, wrapped, and carefully placed under the tree for Christmas morning. Merchants are working overtime to makes sure shelves are stocked and employees are taking good care of the sometimes desperate customers.
At the same time stress levels rise as couples wonder how they are going pay their medical bills. Department store clerks do their best to satisfy the overstressed and demanding customers impatiently waiting their turn in the never-ending lines at the cash registers. Production team supervisors demand more from their team members than they can possibly accomplish.
At the same time protests continue throughout the country illustrating the racial tension that still exists. Political leaders argue over the best plan to keep the government in operation for another year. Each party will boast of their cooperative spirit and how much quicker an agreement could have been reached had it not been for selfishness of the other party. Threats of foreign terrorist attacks, tortured and murdered prisoners, as well as reports of our own government using unsanctioned methods to receive secret information.
It is time for gentleness to be evident. Remember the Lord is near. Remember this season is about the Lord coming to earth to be near to us. It is time for a little gentleness.
I am not suggesting a sentimental gentleness that simply smiles to avoid a confrontation. I am not suggesting a gentleness that covers a broken heart with a sugary sweet insincere greeting.
The gentleness I am suggesting flows from a heart that has been transformed by the presence of God. The gentleness I am suggesting comes as a result of being touched by the compassion of Jesus. The gentleness I am suggesting is not manufactured to make a good showing, but is a natural by-product of being filled with the Spirit of God. The gentleness I am suggesting is possible when one has been comforted by the gentleness of a spirit-filled loved one.
It is time to let gentleness be evident among Christians when we disagree with other Christians on matters of minor importance, and on matters of major importance. It is time to let gentleness be evident between members of the same church when things do not turn out the way we had hoped they would. It is time to let gentleness be evident when we hear something that surprises and disappoints us about another follower of Jesus — gentleness, not assumptions or accusations.
When rebellion is evident it is time to let gentleness be equally evident. When disappointment is evident it is time to let gentleness be equally evident. When complete failure has occurred, discovered and confessed it is time to let gentleness be abundantly evident. When people are demanding, rude, disrespectful, selfish and generally unkind it is time to let gentleness be miraculously evident.
The Lord is near. It is time to let gentleness be evident to all.
Tom