Power in its various forms is a good gift from God, to be used by his people for the ends of his kingdom. And like other good gifts, power is perilous when wielded improperly. The answer to the dangers of strength is not its loss, but the gaining of a Christian virtue called gentleness.

One of John Steinbeck’s lead characters in Of Mice and Men, Lennie is a giant of a man, strong as an ox, with a mild mental disability. He has big muscles and a big heart. He loves petting soft things, but doesn’t know his own strength. First, he unintentionally kills a mouse he is stroking. Later it’s a puppy. Finally, he accidentally and fatally breaks a woman’s neck.

Lennie’s problem isn’t his strength. Strength is a gift. Others benefit from Lennie’s strength, especially his friend George. What Lennie needs is not to lose his strength, but to gain the ability to control his strength for good purposes. To use his power to help others, not harm them.

Power in its various forms is a good gift from God, to be used by his people for the ends of his kingdom. And like other good gifts, power is perilous when wielded improperly. The answer to the dangers of strength is not its loss, but the gaining of a Christian virtue called gentleness.

Let’s Bring Gentle Back

Gentleness today may be the single most misunderstood Spirit-produced virtue of the nine listed in Galatians 5:22–23: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Two millennia later, gentleness is often used as a positive spin on weakness. But gentleness in the Bible is emphatically not a lack of strength, but the godly exercise of power. Gentleness does not signal a lack of ability but the added ability to steward one’s strength so that it serves good, life-giving ends rather than bad, life-taking ends.

Take rain, for instance. Hard rain destroys life, but “gentle rain” gives life (Deuteronomy 32:2). Violent rain does harm, not good. The farmer prays not for weak rain, or no rain, but for gentle rain. The means of delivery is important. We need water (the power for life) delivered gently, not destructively. Gentle doesn’t mean feebly but appropriately — giving, not taking, life.

So also, “a gentle tongue is a tree of life” (Proverbs 15:4). Gentle doesn’t mean weak but fittingly strong, with life-giving restraint — giving something good not like a fire hose but in due measure. Or consider sailing. A gently blowing wind (Acts 27:13) answers a sailors’ prayer, while a violent wind spells trouble (Acts 27:18).

The virtue of gentleness is seen best in God himself, who “comes with might” (Isaiah 40:10). How does he wield his strength toward his people? “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young” (Isaiah 40:11). Violence is the destructive use of strength (Isaiah 22:17). Gentleness is its life-giving exercise.

What Our Daughters Want

When the apostle Peter contrasts good power with bad, just rulers with the unjust, he describes good leaders as “good and gentle” (1 Peter 2:18). The opposite of a crooked master isn’t a weak one — who wants the protection of a weak lord? — but “good and gentle.” We want gentle leaders, not weakones. We want leaders with strength and power, not to use against us, to our harm, but to wield for our good, to help us. Which is what makes the image of a shepherd so fitting in both the Old and New Testaments. Sheep are manifestly weak and vulnerable. They need strong shepherds, not weak ones. They need shepherds who are good and will use their power to help the sheep, not use and abuse them.

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