Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Ephesians 4:2

How did Christ demonstrate gentleness?  Gentleness is the careful handling of strength in order to preserve the integrity of the person or thing to which we apply it.  It is not the absence of strength, but strength controlled and properly applied to produce a beneficial result.  Christ was the Master of gentleness.  The narratives of His life and ministry afford us an abundance of examples.  He was gentle in His dealing with the woman at the well, the man at the pool of Bethesda, and the woman taken in adultery.  In each of these instances, He applied His strength to them in such a way as to produce the desired result.  In the case of the woman at the well, He turned her life from moral self-destruction without berating her for the life she had lived.  With the man at the pool of Bethesda, He brought him from sickness to health without emphasizing that his illness was the result of his own wrongdoing.  In the instance of the woman taken in adultery, Christ faced her accusers and sent them away in shame before He dealt with her in gentle correction.  There are multitudes of illustrations beyond these few, but these serve to make the point that Christ demonstrated gentleness that is worthy of imitation.  As we look to Him we grow to be like Him.

Our Loving and Gentle Christ,
we rejoice in Your strength
and in the way You apply it to us daily.
We praise You that You are good and gentle,
as You conform us to Your Image.

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient,
bearing with one another in love.

Ephesians 4:2

How did Christ actively demonstrate humility?  If we are going to imitate Christ, it is important for us to contemplate Him in specific ways.  Thus, we learn from the Master.  Christ understood clearly who He was and who He was not.  Without pride, He could say.  I am the Good Shepherd; I am the door; I am the way, the truth and the life.’  He also clearly understood who He was not. He could justifiably say, ‘Which of you can prove that I have sinned?’  Having said that, Christ refused to stand upon the rights which were His by virtue of His true status.  Therefore, ‘being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.’  The very fact of Christ’s incarnation is evidence of His humility.  Philippians points us to the logical conclusion of Christ’s humility by saying, ‘and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.’  The ultimate demonstration of Christ’s humility was His self-sacrifice for the sake of others who were still strangers to grace and to God.  This becomes the overarching pattern for all who follow Christ.  All that we do by way of self-sacrifice, we do in the imitation of Christ.  As we dwell upon Him, and learn to imitate Him we conform to His Image.  In a de facto way, this means that we die by degrees to sin and live unto righteousness.  Thus, the Holy Spirit works within us to become true reflections of Christ in His humility.

Our Good and Wise Savior,
we rejoice that You show us true humility.
We praise You that as we follow in Your steps,
we learn to imitate You.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Ephesians 4:2

What does it mean to do something ‘in love?’  In context, the Apostle Paul is begging the Ephesians to ‘walk worthy,’ of the calling with which they were called.  He has gone further to delineate qualities, which are elements of this worthy walk.  Humility, gentleness, patience and forbearance are all qualities which Christ exhibited during His earthly life and ministry.  Love is the overarching motivation which brings all these qualities to the fore.  God is love and Christ is God.  Therefore, when Christ practically demonstrates these qualities in real situations, He is acting in love.  The whole of His earthly incarnation, the purpose of which was to serve and to give His life a ransom for many, demonstrates that all the qualities He possesses and the way in which He does, is out of the motivation of pure love.  Thus Christ becomes our true north for guidance in our interactions within every context.  By looking to Christ we come to understand how all these qualities translate into real-time action.  They become much more than mere ideas.  As the Spirit works within us, He leads us in the imitation of Christ to do what we do ‘in love.’

Our Glorious Living Christ,
we rejoice that You have shown us, by Your actions,
how to live in love.
We praise You that by Your Holy Spirit,
You will conform us into Your image.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient,
bearing with one another in love.

Ephesians 4:2

‘Patience is a virtue,’ is an old proverb.  Patience often escapes us.  We think we have patience, and then some unexpected circumstance arises. Suddenly we are out of patience.  It is worthwhile to consider that in the opening lines of this section of Ephesians, Paul has literally begged them to, ‘walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.’ He dives straight into a discussion of virtues like humility, gentleness, and patience.  Of necessity, this must bring us very quickly to Christ.  In the life of Christ we see extraordinary examples of patience.  Christ was exceptionally patient with His disciples.  He would teach them, correct them, advise them and cultivate them with care.  He was patient with the multitudes who wandered about as sheep not having a shepherd.  He was remarkably patient with His enemies.  On numerous occasions, when he could have crushed them in a variety of ways, He bore patiently with their insults and calumny.  The greatest exhibition of His patience was His endurance of the treatment He received during His passion and execution.  These all serve as patterns for our consideration of the quality of patience which is so much related to walking worthy.

Our Loving and Patient God,
we rejoice that You bear with us so much and so long.
We praise You that daily,
You set before us the example of Christ our Savior,
Who shows us the perfect pattern of patience.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Ephesians 4:2

If we observe the life of Christ, we behold two salient characteristics.  Christ was humble and gentle.  Like so many of our conceptions these qualities have become somewhat distorted over time.  Humility is an accurate understanding of who we are and who we are not.  Gentleness is the careful handling of strength in order to preserve the integrity of the person or thing to which we apply it.  Because Christ knew who He was and who He was not,  He did not need to trumpet His majesty, power and glory with ostentatious self-aggrandizing displays.  Rather, ‘He went about doing good.’  He showed His gentleness in an abundance of contexts with the weak, the helpless, and the sincerely misguided.  It is worthwhile to notice, that as Paul appeals to the Ephesians to ‘walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,’ he begins to delineate that by referring to these two outstanding qualities which Christ clearly demonstrated.  If we will practically apply the glorious theology of the past three chapters, it will bring us to consider the character qualities exhibited by the One Who knew it best in all of its’ ramifications.  Today, we meditate on these qualities in Him, that they may come to be in us by the power of His Spirit. 

Our Gracious Master and our God,
we rejoice that we see in You all that we admire.
We praise You that as Your Holy Spirit works
within us, You will conform us unto Your Image.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning