Strength in Gentleness (Friday Devotional)

 

[The fruit of the spirit is] …gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.

- Galatians 5:23

Years ago, my kids were playing in the front yard while I observed from the porch. Though they would periodically come to the porch to tell me something, and it was during one of these check-ins that Katherine shrieked and pointed at the ground.

“Daddy, LOOK!!!”

Glancing down, I saw a slug slowly oozing its way across the concrete. I laughed and bent down to get a closer look while Katherine shrank back and Andrew ran over to see what the commotion was. Seeking to reassure Katherine, I said, “Don’t worry, Sweet Pea, I’ll kill it.”

“No, Daddy!” Andrew cried out. “You don’t have to do that. Why can you just move it to the dirt? Then Katherine won’t be scared and it’ll be off the porch, but it’ll still be alive. That seems nicer to me.”

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about the conviction I felt in that simple moment. There are so many times in life when showing strength is the fastest way to solve a problem or get your way. Flexing your muscles—whether literally or figuratively—impresses onlookers, swells your ego, and oftentimes helps you get results. But when strength is wielded to dominate others, when you make yourself feel big by making someone else feel small, you may get your way, but you lose something important in the process.

In the crucified Jesus, we are given the perfect picture of godly strength: a Savior sacrificing himself for others. When Jesus could have called down a legion of angels to lay waste to his persecutors, he instead prayed for his enemies’ forgiveness. When he could have ended his own suffering by inflicting pain on others, he instead trusted God for deliverance. Glorification for Jesus didn’t come through victory on a battlefield, but death on a cross—not through justified violence, but gracious sacrifice.

Sometimes the simplest, most efficient path to getting what you want is to bulldoze whoever’s in your way, to say or do whatever it takes to get your way. But for those who have been filled with the Holy Spirit, there is a better way to live. Gentleness need not be confused for weakness, and self-control need not be abandoned in the name of strength. The cross is the proof: true strength is not found in crushing the weak beneath your feet, but by lifting them up with a hand of grace.