The exhortation to rejoice and the invitation to not be anxious for anything but to bring all to God in prayer are a very well-known and much-loved part of Paul's letter to the Philippians (chapter 4). But within those verses is another call that gets less attention: "Let your gentleness be evident to all" (verse 5).
When times are tough and our hearts are bundles of anxieties and fears, when it seems like there is no easy way out of the challenges that face us, being gentle - being gentle to all - is far from certain. Fears paralyse our hearts and anxieties pull us inwards. And we find ourselves responding to others harshly, becoming censorious and cynical, robbed of joy.
Paul's instruction, Let your gentleness be evident to all, is a wake-up call to be heard above the noise of strife that fills our minds so constantly.
But we must be careful not to mistake a natural timidity of character for the gentleness Paul writes of. True gentleness is a tenderness of spirit and a lightness of touch in our dealings with others, as well as in our thoughts toward them and our prayers for them. It is a carefulness of speech and a consideration of our actions that takes great pains not to graze another's soul. If we ourselves are brittle and fragile, so too are others. Let your gentleness be evident to all.
Such gentleness isn't peculiar to particular personality types; it is a fruit of the Spirit of Jesus. And so Paul adds the most wonderful, brief companion statement: "The Lord is near." It is his presence now and the promise of his return in glory soon that enables such a transformation of our demeanour and responses.
The Lord is with us now and deals with each one of us so gently, with a love that knows every pain we bear and all the sensitivity of our psyche. And the nearness Paul writes of includes within it our Saviour's ultimate nearness: we shall not be abandoned to the squalor and the struggles of this life. Weeping may remain for a night but joy is coming in the morning.
Psalm 65:9-11 portrays the Lord's work in his world with a captivating beauty:
You care for the land and water it;
you enrich it abundantly...
You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
You crown the year with your bounty,
and your carts overflow with abundance.
There is an intentional continuity between the hand of God in the fruitfulness of earth and his hand upon us, in the terrain of our hearts. He drenches the furrows of our lives by his presence and his word acts to level the ridges of our character, softening us with showers of loving-kindness. And when our Lord Jesus returns, not only ourselves but all creation will be crowned with beauty, overflowing with abundance as "We are filled with the good things of your house" (Ps. 65:4).
Until then, may our gentleness be evident to all because, truly, the Lord is near.
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Have Thine own way, Lord,
Have thine own way;
Thou art the Potter,
I am the clay.
Mould me and make me
After Thy will,
While I am waiting
Yielded and still.
Have Thine own way, Lord,
Have Thine own way;
Search me and try me,
Master, today.
Whiter than snow, Lord,
Wash me just now,
As in Thy presence
Humbly I bow.
Have Thine own way, Lord,
Have thine own way;
Wounded and weary,
Help me I pray.
Power, all power,
Surely is Thine;
Touch me and heal me,
Saviour divine.
Have Thine own way, Lord,
Have Thine own way;
Hold o'er my being
Absolute sway.
Fill with Thy Spirit
Till all shall see
Christ only, always,
Living in me.
(Adelaide Addison Pollard, 1862-1934)
