Devotion for Today: 22 October 2007 Devotion for Today "Being Gentle" I Thessalonians 2:7-8

22 October 2007  Devotion for Today  "Being Gentle"  I Thessalonians 2:7-8

Not long ago one of my children was doing an experiment called the

"Egg Drop."  The children in his class at school were to devise a

container which held an uncooked chicken egg, making it so that the

container held enough insulation and soft material that it would

absorb the shock of being thrown from a three story building, leaving

the egg unbroken when it hit the ground.  We packed a plastic container

full of newspapers and foam rubber, hoping this would provide the

shock absorption for the egg.  On the day of the great Egg Drop, all

of the fourth grade children threw their containers out the window

of the Argonner School building.  I did not see it, but heard the

report afterward.  Some of the children's containers were more successful

than others.  When I asked my fourth-grader how his egg drop experiment

faired, he was rather irritated.  "What happened?" I asked. "He shot

back a rather smart reply: "Dad, it would have helped had you put an

egg in the container!"

Everyone knows that eggs have to be treated with care because they

are fragile.  They appear to be rather substantial judging by the outward

appearance.  But the hard exterior is only a thin veneer of enamel.  If

dropped or broken, the egg yoke comes cascading through the cracks in

a messy river of yellowish brown goo.  We have to be careful how we

transport them and how we store them.  I thought of how much like the

human personality the egg can be.  Some appear to be quite strong and

resilient, able to handle most any amount of stress and trauma that

comes their way.  Then we become surprised that they "crack" under the

strain and wonder what went wrong.  This is especially true when helping

people understand the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Many

well-meaning evangelists, determine to obliterate the sin from people's

lives, run ahead of the Holy Spirit, and come on too strong.  Sin must

be dealt with, that is true, but the Holy Spirit does the convicting

of that as the message is proclaimed in meekness and gentleness.  I

have found people are more apt to resist when I come at them with hard

exhortations because they sense an unloving or unkind attitude within

me.  But it is possible to convey the need for repentance in a spirit

of gentleness, while at the same time giving a spirit of love and

respect for those who hear me.

Such was the attitude of the Apostle Paul in I Thessalonians 2:7-8. In

this passage he explains what it is to be a model servant and

communicator of the Gospel, and creates a wonderful analogy that more

than half the human population can understand by personal experience:

"But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her

own children.  So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased

to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives,

because you had become dear to us."  Paul relates the fact that an

effective and loving mother does not treat her children with harshness

and meanness, but with love and tenderness.  Small children, and big

ones, too, need tenderness and love-no matter hard an exterior they

may pretend to have.  In our hard, "tell-it-like-it-is world, there

is enough brokenness and insensitivity as it is without Christianity

adding to it.

When it comes to people our object as Christians is not to break them,

but to nurture them so that they can be whole people in Jesus Christ.

May the Lord create in you a spirit of gentleness today.  Have a

blessed day.

Rev. Jeffery C. Russell
Salem Baptist Church
Elizabeth City, NC
jefferyrussell@embarqmail.com

jcrussell@liberty.edu

Devotion for Today