Gentle Power

“Be a lamb with them and a lion for them.” That’s the phrase I want you to have emblazoned on your heart and mind as a man of God. When this is grabs ahold of you, then you will begin to be the kind of gentle that Paul is referring to here. To illustrate this characteristic, let’s turn to the ultimate portrait of manhood, the man Jesus Christ.

For many Western Christians, the meek and mild, gentle and lowly Jesus is the only Jesus they have ever known. While this is a major part of who Jesus was, and who we must be, that’s only part of the full image the bible gives us of Jesus. Yes children, prostitutes, lepers, and outcasts had no problem coming to him because of his gentle nature, but we see a very different picture when it comes to the religious elites of the day. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes all met Jesus with contempt and hatred. Why? Because the goal of their lives was control and power through the manipulation of others using religious authority. They preyed on the weak and disadvantaged to gain positions of prominence, wealth, and earthly comforts.  It is these people that Jesus stands squarely against and challenges most harshly. From table flipping to name calling, he spares no arrows in his assaults against those who would lead his sheep astray. From “whitewashed tombs” to a “brood of vipers,” our Lord was a savage lion when it came to defending his own. That must be the kind of attitude adopted by us as men of God.

If you were to survey the life of Jesus, however, you would find that he was never, and I mean never, aggressive and harsh with his people. From the disciples to the stranger on the street, Jesus carried himself in a gentle and loving way, always interruptible, never inconvenienced by the needs of his sheep. For us as men, this is where we will struggle. We can often get to the place of violent defender of our families and friends, but gentle and kind? Not so much. You see it is the man in Ephesians who is commanded to love, not the woman. The woman is called to submit. I believe Paul’s reason for these specific charges is because these are the two most difficult things for men and women to do, going all the way back to the Garden of Eden. A loving husband and father will be gentle and kind, not harsh, not overbearing, not tense and uptight. You must be a lamb with them, but never forget that God has also called you to be a lion for your wife, kids, and everyone else God brings into your sphere of influence every time something or someone threatens lives. “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14).