The Gentle and Harsh Qualities

Being meek and quiet, good, good-natured, gentle and tender, patient, longsuffering, merciful, conciliatory and compassionate: these all belong together.

The opposite are the harsh qualities; they also belong together: ostentatious and loud, evil, hard, stiff and stubborn, strong in yourself, unbending, headstrong, self-willed, abrupt, angry, irritated, assertive, un-cooperative, contrary and cross, conceited and stupid, self-assured, critical and judgmental, rebellious and stubborn, brutal and rude, disrespectful and irreverent, unthankful and dissatisfied, demanding, irreconcilable and difficult to deal with, and full of self-justification.

When such things are fermenting in a person, it is impossible for him to be quiet, meek, and gentle?

However, when all this is put off or eradicated, put to death, made an end of, broken down, crushed, destroyed, how could we then be anything but meek, quiet, and gentle?

It is vital to have a living faith in the Word, to be patient, and have an intense desire to become like this as soon as possible.