Resurrection Sunday: Gentleness & Self-Control

As there is a connection between patience and kindness, there is also a corollary between gentleness and self-control. All of the fruits of the Spirit are interconnected in different ways, and the desire of any true believer would be to see these fruits growing and maturing in an ongoing fashion.

On the night preceding His crucifixion, Jesus wrestled mightily with all that he was about to face. There were the obvious challenges of what was about to happen to Him physically with the beatings, the mocking, and the eventual crucifixion itself. Yet there was the even more horrific reality of the perfect Son of God absorbing the sin of the universe and the wrath of God on our behalf. This, for Him, was even more troubling than the physical suffering He was about to endure. 

As we look at Luke 22:42, we can see that Jesus labored under the reality of what was about to occur, and He looked to His Father to see if there was a different way. All of us look for a fire exit when the heat gets turned up. It’s not uncommon for us to fret and look for an alternative path when trouble or hardship awaits us. But unlike us, Jesus demonstrated perfect self-control and submitted His will, anxiety, and emotions to the purpose and plans of His Father. We should all be grateful that He did because His obedience unto death was our path to life, freedom, and forgiveness.

While struggling in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus brought Peter, James, and John along with Him to pray and to provide some community for Himself. These men continued to fall asleep and provided little to no comfort for Him. It would have been easy for Jesus to dismay even further and to grow harsh with His disciples for falling short in such a desperate hour. And yet, we see Jesus gently rouse them from their sleep on two occasions and continue to encourage them to pray and remain alert. The fruit of gentleness that He displayed towards His accusers, His killers, His disciples, and even some distressed women on His march to Golgotha is on full display in wondrous ways.

The Spirit seeks to create the fruits of self control and gentleness in us as well. Part of our cooperation is echoing the words of Christ to our heavenly Father - “...not my will, but yours be done.” As we continue to surrender our agendas and wills to the Father, we open up more space for His will and presence to infiltrate and permeate our lives. Our ability to remain self controlled and gentle towards those around us increases because the impertinence and harshness of our agendas is replaced with the softer and sweeter words and demeanor of our Savior.