No Yoke No Gentleness

Gentleness, and its synonyms, kindness, tenderness, calmness, mildness, and quietness seem like long forgotten virtues with the ever increasing pace of our society. Any one of these deeply spiritual values takes time and energy and often thought, prayerfulness and being still inwardly in order to get in touch with them and practice them in our over-stimulated, over-paced, and over-stressed way of life. However, just because they are mostly forgotten does not make them any less potent or welcomed in whatever relational circumstances we may find ourselves in with others. There have been many times in my life that I remember thinking that I was about to get into serious trouble or times when I was facing an angry person, that I have both felt the affects of a gentle answer or seen the affects of gentleness on the other person(s) involved. The bible says a gentle answer turns away wrath and it really does. It acts like water on fire or like a warm blanket on an icy relationship. Instead of blasting something back that we usually regret later try speaking gently. It will not come easy; in fact it will take all of your efforts plus the added strength of faith in Jesus to make it happen. Jesus put it this way in the form of an invitation; “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."This means that if we want to experience the joy and blessing of both giving and also receiving gentleness we can. Jesus invites us to come to him and ‘learn’ it from him. Like a young oxen that is yoked to an older more experienced oxen to learn how to work the field so too we will learn how to be gentle and humble of heart from being "yoked" with him. As we hang around him we will see the power of gentleness and begin to put it into practice until it becomes an established way of dealing with others.
How about it, could you do with a little more gentleness in your relationships? Then don’t delay, get started as soon as you can. Give one of your town pastors a call and ask them to help you with this journey. You will not regret it.