In a power hungry world, it is increasingly challenging to us to really believe the paradox that lies at the heart of our faith.
‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’ (2 Corinthians 12.9). When Paul says that he will boast all the more gladly about his weaknesses, ‘so that Christ’s power may rest on me’, it seems to cut against the grain, because it appears to contradict all the evidence of life in our world. So when we read that the fruit of the Spirit is ‘gentleness’ or ‘meekness’ (KJV), what does it really mean?
Distorted picture
‘Gentle Jesus, meek and mild’ is the description of a Victorian hymn which has been used to paint a distorted picture of Christ and of Christians. The weakness it seems to indicate would come from an inability to confront or to oppose anything, a willingness passively to accept whatever life may bring, because there is neither the courage nor the energy to do anything about it. This falsely equates meekness with weakness. But the gentleness which is the fruit of the Spirit is the product of divine strength. It is not a natural human disposition, or even a description of outward behaviour or an individual’s demeanour; it is an outworking of the life of God in his people —grace in action. When it comes to living godly lives, in terms of the teaching of Scripture, we are all weak — powerless to change ourselves, because of our inherent sinfulness. But conscious recognition of our inability is what drives us to seek God’s grace and appropriate the Holy Spirit’s power to change us deep within. Yet when that life begins its transforming work in us, we become even more aware of our weakness, in contrast to God’s power. Instead of thinking of ourselves now as ‘powerful Christians’, with all the self-interest and self-assertiveness which accompany that delusion, we realise that our total dependence on God’s grace actually liberates us from ourselves, to find our stability and spiritual energy in Christ alone.
