ITS SO WONDERFUL TO HAVE ANOTHER TO CLEAVE TOO

Jesus says

“Take My yoke upon you & learn from Me, for I am gentle & humble in heart.”

Matthew 11:29

“By the meekness & gentleness of Christ.”

2 Corinthians 10:1

“The fruit of the Spirit is . . . gentleness.”

Galatians 5:22

“Let your gentleness be evident to all.”

Philippians 4:5

“Be completely humble & gentle; be patient,
bearing with one another in love.”

Ephesians 4:2

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy & dearly loved,
clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility,
gentleness & patience.”

Colossians 3:12

“We were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children.”

1 Thessalonians 2:7

“But you, man of God, flee from all this & pursue righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, endurance & gentleness.”

1 Timothy 6:11

“The Lord’s servant must be gentle towards all.”

2 Timothy 2:24

“The unfading beauty of a gentle & quiet spirit,
which is of great worth in God’s sight.”

1 Peter 3:4

Gentleness is a beautiful quality.
It is essential to all true character.
Nobody admires ungentleness

When we’re harsh, cold, unfeeling, unkind,
When we’re crude & rough in any manner—

When we’re loud-voiced, dictatorial, petulant,
given to speaking bitter words & doing unkind things—

No one can say

What a lovely disposition
What excellent qualities,
but ungentleness mars
the beauty of our character.

No man is truly great, who is not gentle.

Your gentleness has made us great.

Psalm 18:35.

Courage & strength & truth & justness & righteousness
are essential elements in our character;

but if all these be in a man & gentleness be lacking—
the life is sadly flawed.

We might put the word gentleness in

If we speak with the tongues of men & of angels,
but have not gentleness,

We are become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.

And if I have the gift of prophecy & know all mysteries & all knowledge;
And if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains,

but have not gentleness, I am nothing.

And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
and if I give my body to be burned,
but have not gentleness, it profits me nothing.

We need a new adornment,
We need an added grace of character—

We need gentleness.

This is the crown of all loveliness,
This are Christ’s qualities.

Our greatest need is gentleness.
All human hearts hunger for tenderness.

We are made for love—not only to love, but to be loved.

Harshness pains us.
Lacks in gentleness touches our sensitive spirits as frost touches the flowers.
It stunts the growth of all lovely things.

We naturally crave gentleness.
It is like a genial summer to our life.
Beneath its warm, nourishing influence beautiful things in us grow.

Then there always are many people who have special need of tenderness.

We cannot know what secret burdens many of those about us are carrying,

what hidden griefs burn like fires in the hearts of those with whom we mingle in our common life.

Not all grief wears the outward garb of mourning;

sunny faces often times veil heavy hearts.

Many people who make no audible appeal for sympathy yet crave tenderness—

they certainly need it, though they ask it not—as they bow beneath their burden.

There is no weakness in such a yearning.

We remember how our Master himself longed for expressions of love
when he was passing through his deepest experiences of suffering,
and how bitterly he was disappointed when his friends failed him.

Many a life goes down in the fierce, hard struggle—
for lack of the blessing of strength which human tenderness
would have brought.

Many owes there victoriousness in sorrow or in temptation—
to the gentleness which came to him in some helpful form
from a thoughtful friend.

We know not who of those we meet any day, need the help
which our gentleness could give.

Life is not easy to most people. It duties are hard. Its burdens are heavy.

Life’s strain never relaxes. There is no truce in life’s battle.

This world is not friendly to noble living.
There are countless antagonisms.

Heaven can be reached by any of us,
only by passing through serried lines of strong enmity.

Human help is not always ready, when it would be welcomed.

Too often men find indifference or opposition—
where they ought to find love.

Life’s rivalries and competitions are sharp, and often times deadly.

We can never do amiss in showering gentleness.

There is no day when it will be untimely;
there is no place where it will not find welcome.

It will harm no one—and it may save someone from despair.

The touch of a child on a woman’s hand, may save a life from self destruction.

It is interesting to think of the new era of love which Jesus opened.

The world at large was full of cruelty.
The rich oppressed the poor.
The strong crushed the weak.

Women were slaves and men were tyrants.

There was no hand of love reached out to help the sick,

There was no hand of gentleness to help the lame, the blind,
the old, the deformed, the insane, nor any to care for the widow,
the orphan & the homeless.

Then Jesus came!

And for thirty-three years he went about among men—
doing kind things.

He had a gentle heart & gentleness flowed out in his speech.

He spoke words which throbbed with tenderness.

There was never any uncertainty about the heart-beat in the words
which fell from the lips of Jesus.

They throbbed with sympathy & tenderness.

The people knew always, that Jesus was their friend.

His life was full of rich helpfulness.

No wrong or cruelty ever made him ungentle.

He scattered kindness wherever he moved.

One day they nailed those gentle hands to a cross!
After that the people missed Him, for he came no more to their homes.

It was a sore loss to the poor & the sad & there was grief in many

Jesus brought a new example of love.
He taught lessons of patience & meekness
which no other had ever given.

He imparted new meaning to human affection.
He made love the law of his kingdom.

As one might drop a handful of spices
into a pot of brackish water,
He sweeten the waters—

Jesus brings to our unloving, unkindly life, The changes of gentleness.

His blessings are the blessings of gentleness.

It was love that died on the cross!
A heart broke that day on Calvary.
His great sorrow always, softens hearts.

A noble sacrifice, His life is given
in the effort to help or to save others,
makes our hearts truer, braver & nobler in impulses.

The influence of the death of Jesus on us is immeasurable.
The cross is like a great heart of love beating at our center
sending its pulsings of tenderness into all

The life of Christ beats in our hearts
and all who love Him
have something of His gentleness.

The love of Jesus, kindles love in every believing heart.

We are taught that we should love as Jesus loved,
that we should be kind as he was kind,

that His meekness, patience, thoughtfulness, selflessness,
should be reproduced in us.

There is need for the lesson of gentleness in homes.
There love’s sweetest flowers should bloom.
There we should always carry our purest & best affections.
No matter how heavy the burdens have been,
when we gather to our own we bring gentleness.

No one has any right to be ungentle in their home.
If we finds ourselves in such a mood we should go to our room—
until it has vanished.

Our life is not easy,
Our hours are long,
Our load of care is never laid down.
When our tasks are finished, we seeks our pillow for rest,

But our little ones continually tugging
climbing up on us, bringing their little hurts, their quarrels,
their broken toys, their complaints, their thousand questions—
and then with all the cares & toils
and with all the interruptions & annoyances of the busy days—
it is no wonder if sometimes the strain is almost more
than we can endure in quiet patience.

We may learn the finest arts—music, painting, sculpture, poetry;
or may master the noblest sciences; or by means of reading, study,
travel & converse with refined people, may attain the best culture.

But if in all this, we do not learn love,
If we don’t become more gentle in spirit & act—
we have missed the prize of living.

There is a legend of a great artist.
One day he had labored long on his picture,
but was discouraged,
for he could not produce on his canvas the beauty of his soul’s vision.
He was weary too; and sinking down on a stool by his easel, he fell asleep.

While he slept an angel came,
taking the brushes which had dropped from the tired hands,
he finished the picture in marvelous way.

Just so, when we toil and strive in the name of Christ
to learn our lesson of gentleness,
yet we grow disheartened & wary because we learn it so slowly—

Christ comes & puts on our canvas the touches of beauty
which our own unskilled hands cannot produce!

Your gentleness has made us great.

Psalm 18:35

Adapted from unknown source