Secrets of the Abundant Life - Gentleness

Galatians 5: 19 – 25 (NIV): The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

You have noticed by now that I'm following the Fruit of the Spirit, found in this passage, as my outline for living the abundant life. If we live in step with the Spirit of God, we will live the abundant life. If not, we simply will not.
Today we are going to discuss gentleness. Paul's word for gentleness in this passage has three meanings in the New Testament. The first was used by Jesus in Matthew 5:5 when he said the meek will inherit the earth. Meek is an equestrian term, meaning, “having been brought under control.” A meek horse has all of its power, beauty, personality and strength, but it is able to be controlled by its master. A gentle person is a meek person, submissive to the will of God.The second meaning of the word is humble – the idea being teachable and not too proud to learn. We know that pride is a vice that keeps us from having a relationship with God. 1 Peter 5:5 says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. If we are going to live the abundant life and have fellowship with God, we must be teachable. We must be gentle.
The third meaning for the word gentle is “being considerate to others”, as in 1 Corinthians 4:21. This is what we think of when we call a man a gentleman. He knows the balance between anger and passiveness. He treats others as he would want to be treated and is able to put their needs above his own.
If there is a short-cut to living the abundant life, we have discovered it in today's scripture: We walk in step with the Spirit. That means we do what he wants and not what we want. In other words, there really isn't a shortcut. It's going to take effort and good decision-making each and every day or our lives. And we're going to need next week's secret to do it.