“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Mt 5:5)

The meek are those who deal humbly and gently with others. A gentle and quiet spirit is of great worth in God’s sight. How can we be gentle? We can be gentle in speech and in our attitude.

We are often sorry for saying a harsh word, but we will never regret saying a kind one. Gentle speech is graceful. Colossians 4:6 reads, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” Seasoned with salt means to weigh one’s answers before speaking so that it can be gentle and effective. We do need to speak the truth, but speak the truth in love, and let your words be seasoned with salt. A message is usually communicated in three ways: through the words we say, the tone of our voice, and our body language. Sometimes people pay more attention to, and thus receive more messages from, our tone than our actual words. Often, we either raise our voice or yell at our family members to get their attention or to demand obedience, thus creating a hostile atmosphere. Instead, we ought to use our gentlest voice at home.

Gentleness is Christ-like consideration for others. The disciples rebuked those who brought little children, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me.” The woman who had been bleeding for twelve years was scared as she was found sneaking behind Jesus’ back to touch the edge of His cloak, hoping to receive healing. But Jesus turned and said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you” (Mk 5:34, NIV) .

Gentleness is to deal with the faults of others as gently as with your own. Jesus said to the crowd who brought a woman caught in the act of adultery, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first” (Jn 8:7). Jesus told the woman, “Has no one condemned you? … Then neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (Jn 8:10-11).

Gentleness is like a mother caring for her little children. This characteristic of Christ is especially essential to church leaders. Gentleness is listed among the characteristics of a bishop in 1 Timothy 3:1-4. It is not easy to teach children to obey and respect their parents without overpowering and embittering them. But just as the Bible says, “if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?” (1 Tim 3:5).