Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Gentleness

Today I'm puzzling over a verse in Philippians 4 that usually gets overlooked and buried between more familiar verses. "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near" (Philippians 4:5).

The word "gentleness" reminds me of a favorite quote from Josh Harris: "Femininity is not weakness. It requires great strength of character for a woman to be gentle in an age that screams for her to do otherwise." I know gentleness is something I need to work on cultivating and portraying--and everyone needs to see it, not just those close to me. Whether it's wedding vendors that I'm frustrated with, or kids I'm teaching, or whoever...my gentleness is supposed to be evident to ALL.

What I'm wondering is, what is the connection between these two sentences? "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near." Why did Paul put those two statements together? How are they related to each other; what am I supposed to learn or know about gentleness in the context of the Lord's coming being near?

Any ideas?

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