Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Phil. 4:5
Lord Jesus, no one is more suited to gentle our hearts than you, for you are “gentle and humble in heart” (Matt. 11:29). No one’s gentleness is more “evident to all,” for you are kind to the broken and patient with provokers, calm in a crisis and unruffled in disruption.
You are the perfect heart surgeon, Jesus. You never get nervous or flustered, agitated or hurried. You have a steady hand because of your grace-full heart. We gladly surrender to your surgeon’s hand today, for we want to grow in gentleness.
Gentle us when we’re in a hurry, but traffic isn’t; or when we get charged too much for a job poorly done. Gentle us when we’re too tired to engage, but loved ones need us to listen. Gentle us when our body hurts, our heart aches, and our mind races.
Gentle us when a good vacation gets cut short by bad weather, when friends make the same destructive choices, or when we get 4 hours of sleep before a 12-hour work-day. Gentle us when we face unkindness, meanness, or contempt from others.
Gentle us when we’re more determined to win an argument than love those with whom we disagree. Gentle us when the car, plumbing, or heating/cooling system needs fixing again. Gentle us when newsfeeds, Tweets, and pundits push our buttons, big time.
Jesus, you’re so near to us in the gospel, and near in terms of your return. May your nearness generate a much quicker repentance on our part, when our first reaction might be agitation or frustration. Gentle us by your grace and Spirit, for your glory and our neighbor’s good. Turn our irritation into adoration, our worry into worship, and our vexing into trusting. So very Amen we pray, in your kind and loving name.
