God's Design for MenSample

Gentle Men

When my son was little, he loved wrestling with me.

Now, I don’t want to brag—but if I wanted to, I could have destroyed him.

Of course, I was very careful—holding back my strength, letting him pin me, and celebrating with him when he did. I could have done a lot of damage if I had gone all out, but of course, I did not want to do anything that would harm him even a little, using these wrestling matches as bonding time to build his strength and confidence.

(These days, as he hits his teenage years and I progress through middle age, our less-frequent wrestling matches are, shall we say, a lot more even.)

The Bible calls this attitude and behavior meekness or gentleness—strength under control. It’s not about passivity or weakness but about intentionally restraining one's power so as not to harm the other person.

Jesus, the perfect Man, teaches and models this in today’s verse, claiming such gentleness for Himself, inviting us to draw near to Him, even though He is God in the flesh. The God of the Bible can be scary to mere mortals (e.g., Exodus 20:18-19; Isaiah 6:1-5; Revelation 1:12-18, etc.), but Jesus on earth is not; His divine power and glory are restrained, and His gentleness is available to anyone who would approach Him.

Men are at their best when they realize their strength, but use wisdom to pull it back when dealing with others. The gentleness that God calls us to in no way diminishes our masculinity, but it does call us to control it. Unleashed strength and power against others is not manly; that’s manliness out of control. God calls each of us to be a “gentleman,” strong and principled, but not unbridled.

God’s design for men is that we value and respect the strength and power He has given us, but learn how to manage it so that our loved ones are comfortable with us and that people around us do not fear us. We are to be approachable, as Jesus is, and our words and actions are to be safe. Gentle men follow Christ’s gentle example and bless others with their controlled strength.

Prayer: Father, thank You for restraining Your great strength as You deal with me! Help me to be a man who does the same. May meekness and gentleness mark my life, my words, and my actions. Amen.

Reflection: Go and share some gentle and encouraging words with someone who needs them today!