“But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.” (1 Thess.2:7-9)
Paul was gentle like Jesus—the Lord of Whom it was said, “A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench, Till He sends forth justice to victory” (Matt.12:20). Picture a plant that has been bent over; its stem is bruised and close to breaking. It takes the tender touch of the gardener to restore it. A candle wick barley glowing—nearly extinguished—needs a soft breath to ignite it again. Blow too hard and out it goes. Thus, people who are bruised and the fire of their soul almost gone, need the tender touch.
In the home, you think of a mother. If something is broken and you need it fixed you run to Dad. If you have fallen and are hurting, you run to Mom. As ministers of the Gospel to people flee from us or fly to us?
This week we have studied the gentleness of God. Christ was the incarnation of that compassion and consolation to the bruised and battered. The Holy Spirit is pictured as a dove of peace and not a screech owl or screaming eagle.
Paul imitated Jesus in this sense. He nourished them with truth as a nursing mother takes a baby to her breast. He poured his life into them with labor and toil as a mom does in birthing us and bringing us up. If Paul had to stay up all night, he would—and sometimes did. That is the way mothers are and they are a model to imitate in ministry whether you are a vocational pastor or a lay minister. Those who have fallen need to be lifted up rather than shoved down lower.
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