In God’s Word, all of the character traits that He commands His people to have, both male and female, are traits of Jesus. Remember that Jesus was quiet and gentle in all His dealings with mankind.
If Jesus was quiet and gentle, we should be quiet and gentle…. and that begs a question..
There were times when Jesus seemed anything but quiet and gentle. Like the time He cleared the temple and the time he told Peter that he was satan and to get behind Him and the occasion when He rebuked the Pharisees for being like whitewashed tombs.
So, perhaps we need to broaden our definitions of quiet and gentle. It is not only the external exhibition of gentle and quiet traits that make a gentle and quiet spirit. It is what is going on inside that determines whether a woman is quiet and gentle.
A person can be all tied up in knots on the inside and look as cool as a cucumber. But that is not a person in command of a gentle and quiet spirit.
There is certainly a time to be silent, but that isn’t the only measure of a quiet spirit. There are times when being silent is to the detriment of those around us. There is a time to be soft and tender but that isn’t the only way one can exhibit a gentle spirit. There are times when a show of authority is necessary for the good of others.
So, as women of God, how do we show this great strength of gentleness and quietness? God has given women two walls of protection and ways to grow gentleness and quietness.
1. Trust in God
2. Submission to her husband or male authority in her life
When submission starts to look scary and hairy…. a woman remembers that she trusts in God who has commanded her to be submissive to her husband. She looks to Him and her spirit is comforted, stilled….quieted and gentled.
When she submits with joy to her own husband, she honors the God she trusts. This brings about peace in the household and in her heart. This is the very picture of a gentle and quiet spirit. And this is what makes a woman beautiful and is very valuable in God’s sight.
Why is this kind of character is so valuable in God’s sight? I believe the first verse in this passage tells us plainly:
1 Peter 3:1
Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct.
If your own husband is a believer, your gentle and quiet spirit not only brings peace to the household, it is a witness to those who see you and your husband every day.
The gentle and quiet spirit is a trait that God wants each of us to own. He wants us to take on the character of Christ Jesus.
This is a print-friendly website. No matter what you print, you get clean formatting.
Thanks so much for the encouragement and instruction. I’ve been the teen and then young adult (some times even middle aged adult) who is outwardly calm but inwardly anxious, angry etc. God is teaching me I can trust Him no matter the circumstance.