The fruit of the Spirit is ...gentleness...
Jesus was the meekest man who ever lived. Before you run away with the idea of a milksop in a white nightdress, 'meekness' has the meaning of strength under control. The other night while I was stranded at various railway stations on the Southern Region I watched a huge Diesel locomotive inch its way into a platform. Had I gone up to London on the Friday as I had planned I would have found my journey disrupted again. Someone stepped off Southampton platform into the path of an oncoming train. The huge locomotive utterly destroyed that frail human body. But the same sort of engine was inching into the station under fingertip control early on Friday morning.
Jesus was meek but he had immense destructive power in his hands. Yet he was gentle. He was gentle with the woman it the well. He was gentle with the woman taken in adultery. He was gentle with the children that the disciples would have turned away. Gentleness is one of the fruits of living with the Spirit.
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