But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)
My Greek-English interlinear Bible translates the word gentleness as meekness. Dr. David Jeremiah defines the translates it humbleness. When I wrote about it yesterday, I decided that today would be a better day to deal with myself in response to the term.
Some years ago while at work, I did something that I don’t recall in terms of the circumstances, but I remember my response. I remember thinking that what I did was gentle, and my response to that thought was, “Oh, no, Lord, please don’t make me gentle.” I’m not saying I was never gentle before that day, or that I’ve been gentle since that day, but I was upset for a couple days at the idea that I could be, or was expected to be gentle.
The problem (of course) was my definition and understanding of the term. Gentle meant weak, or even incompetent. It meant responding to the world, if at all, in the most passive, detached manner, as if nothing mattered. It went beyond detached, to comatose. It meant throwing away both heart and brain. I have some of the same difficulties with the idea of peace. For me, peace tends to mean flat-lined or dead.
I know these responses don’t connect with real gentleness or peace, but they are still definitions that influence my thoughts and reactions. The truth is that being gentle: not doing all that we can, using all of the power at our disposal requires far more strength than the “all that we can, using all of the power at our disposal” does. Overcoming the fear of becoming an emotional vegetable or a doormat takes more effort than telling someone the way it is. It’s a huge challenge to not matter, to be overlooked or treated like the piece of luggage that can’t be left behind but that holds nothing of value. That’s how being gentle tends to feel to me, especially when everyone else seems to think they have the right to express themselves.
I’m not telling you this for pity, or a pat on the head. I suspect most people, at least most modern, Westernized people, would have the same reaction. Being gentle irritates the ego. It stands in the way of what we call “rights” and “authenticity.” You want to know how I know that lots of people feel the same way I do about gentleness?
I have a friend, a nice person who thinks that she is doing a good thing by advocating for people who are autistic. One of the things she repeatedly shares is that autistic people have banded together, and they’ve determined that if you call them “people with autism” or anything other than “autistic people” you are subhuman and deserved to be treated with contempt. She also posts things regularly that talk about “neurotypicals” – you know, those average, run of the mill, non-special nothing folks who aren’t autistic.
Think about Feminism. They want you to believe they just want to be treated as equals to men, but they’ve banned together – they are women, hear them roar, in numbers too big to ignore, and society must bow to their dictates and agree that men, particularly white men, are worthless bits of plastic.
Or, consider the Black Lives Matter, movement. They say that they mean that black lives matter, too – but they don’t protest when white lives or police lives are lost. Their goal is to demand their rights.
Then there’s the LGBT community, who have been granted the right to go legally claim marriage. Supposedly, it was just to make employers be kinder to employees, but it took very little time before they were targeting folks who didn’t get with the program, and getting huge legal settlements designed to destroy the business of the person who didn’t bow to their demands.
Let us not forget the groups who have been organized and brought north from Central and South America, whose goal is to force the American government to do their bidding. There’s also the “Me, too” movement and other groups that demand that we obey them by believing the victims, no matter what.
Have you seen the pictures of the trophy hunters and their animals? Do the posters of those pictures contact the trophy hunters and try to reason with them? No, they turn to social media in hopes to get lots of other people angry so that together, they can force their will on the hunters. That reminds me of attempts to force the government to enact gun-control measures. And PETA’s attempts to force everyone to treat animals as PETA stipulates.
Aren’t these good causes? Don’t all the people and animals deserve to be treated with dignity? I think people and animals should be treated well, but that’s not the issue here. At issue is the fact that all of these groups, and their members, believe that they have the right to use all the power that they can muster to that power’s fullest extent to force other people to capitulate. And in exercising that power, they reject their mere humanity, choosing instead to join with those who will make them gods.
Some years ago while at work, I did something that I don’t recall in terms of the circumstances, but I remember my response. I remember thinking that what I did was gentle, and my response to that thought was, “Oh, no, Lord, please don’t make me gentle.” I’m not saying I was never gentle before that day, or that I’ve been gentle since that day, but I was upset for a couple days at the idea that I could be, or was expected to be gentle.
The problem (of course) was my definition and understanding of the term. Gentle meant weak, or even incompetent. It meant responding to the world, if at all, in the most passive, detached manner, as if nothing mattered. It went beyond detached, to comatose. It meant throwing away both heart and brain. I have some of the same difficulties with the idea of peace. For me, peace tends to mean flat-lined or dead.
I know these responses don’t connect with real gentleness or peace, but they are still definitions that influence my thoughts and reactions. The truth is that being gentle: not doing all that we can, using all of the power at our disposal requires far more strength than the “all that we can, using all of the power at our disposal” does. Overcoming the fear of becoming an emotional vegetable or a doormat takes more effort than telling someone the way it is. It’s a huge challenge to not matter, to be overlooked or treated like the piece of luggage that can’t be left behind but that holds nothing of value. That’s how being gentle tends to feel to me, especially when everyone else seems to think they have the right to express themselves.
I’m not telling you this for pity, or a pat on the head. I suspect most people, at least most modern, Westernized people, would have the same reaction. Being gentle irritates the ego. It stands in the way of what we call “rights” and “authenticity.” You want to know how I know that lots of people feel the same way I do about gentleness?
I have a friend, a nice person who thinks that she is doing a good thing by advocating for people who are autistic. One of the things she repeatedly shares is that autistic people have banded together, and they’ve determined that if you call them “people with autism” or anything other than “autistic people” you are subhuman and deserved to be treated with contempt. She also posts things regularly that talk about “neurotypicals” – you know, those average, run of the mill, non-special nothing folks who aren’t autistic.
Think about Feminism. They want you to believe they just want to be treated as equals to men, but they’ve banned together – they are women, hear them roar, in numbers too big to ignore, and society must bow to their dictates and agree that men, particularly white men, are worthless bits of plastic.
Or, consider the Black Lives Matter, movement. They say that they mean that black lives matter, too – but they don’t protest when white lives or police lives are lost. Their goal is to demand their rights.
Then there’s the LGBT community, who have been granted the right to go legally claim marriage. Supposedly, it was just to make employers be kinder to employees, but it took very little time before they were targeting folks who didn’t get with the program, and getting huge legal settlements designed to destroy the business of the person who didn’t bow to their demands.
Let us not forget the groups who have been organized and brought north from Central and South America, whose goal is to force the American government to do their bidding. There’s also the “Me, too” movement and other groups that demand that we obey them by believing the victims, no matter what.
Have you seen the pictures of the trophy hunters and their animals? Do the posters of those pictures contact the trophy hunters and try to reason with them? No, they turn to social media in hopes to get lots of other people angry so that together, they can force their will on the hunters. That reminds me of attempts to force the government to enact gun-control measures. And PETA’s attempts to force everyone to treat animals as PETA stipulates.
Aren’t these good causes? Don’t all the people and animals deserve to be treated with dignity? I think people and animals should be treated well, but that’s not the issue here. At issue is the fact that all of these groups, and their members, believe that they have the right to use all the power that they can muster to that power’s fullest extent to force other people to capitulate. And in exercising that power, they reject their mere humanity, choosing instead to join with those who will make them gods.
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