So he turned and went off in a rage.
Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.
2 Kings 5:12b-14
During 2026, Peachtree Church is inviting everyone into Cultivate, a churchwide discipleship plan centered on the fruit of the Spirit and the kind of life God longs to grow in us. Throughout the year, we’ll explore how love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control take shape in everyday life through the Spirit’s work. Cultivate brings together worship, Scripture, group guides, and meaningful practices designed to meet you where you are and support growth in ways that fit your season. These twice-weekly devotionals are one way to stay connected, offering reflection and grounding for daily life with God. Whether you engage in many ways or just one, you’re invited to be part of this shared journey of becoming more rooted in who God has created and called you to be.
Devotional
I’d gone up to the parking lot to wait for a friend who was going to give me a ride, and as I walked towards the place where we had agreed to meet, I saw one of my coworkers standing across from someone in the middle of the sidewalk. She had that look of someone who was about to begin crying, and it wasn’t until I noticed her body language that I really noticed the person who was across from her, as he loomed over her, expressing not simply anger but disdain. I walked up next to my coworker and began to speak, ensuring that my words were soft yet firm, and slowly helping her to back away from the argument that was about to occur. It was the gentle approach that was needed to prevent this potential argument from becoming one that would have required outside intervention.
At the end of the interaction between Naaman and Elisha, the commander of the armies of Aram was angry that the prophet had not offered him a difficult solution to his leprosy. Naaman expected that Elisha would have waved his hand over his leprosy or done something that would have caused a spectacle, that would have been in keeping with the manner in which people would have expected of a healing, especially of a prominent figure such as Naaman. In the midst of Naaman’s anger, his servants intervened.
The servants offered the gentle words that reminded the commander that if he had been willing to do something difficult, he should have also been willing to do something simple. In each of our lives, we need the gentle voices that remind us of the reality in which we live. As is so often the case, God uses the people around us to bring us to what we should do.
During the most angry moments of our lives, the Lord whispers calmly to us the reminders to turn towards the gentleness that we see in his presence. The challenge for so many of us is that gentleness requires that we turn aside from our first reactions, from our easy reactions, and instead do what can feel so much more difficult. At the heart of this matter is what we hear in Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also” (Matthew 5:38-39).
For Reflection
- Who are the voices of gentleness in your life? How have they changed as you have journeyed in your walk of faith?
- What makes it most difficult for you to turn from anger to gentleness?
Prayer
God, speak your word of calm into my life and open my ears that I might hear them. Shape my heart to be one that is willing and able to respond to hardship with peace rather than with a desire to increase the anger that surrounds so many situations. Help me to be an instrument of your peace, kindness, and gentleness in the world around us. In Jesus’ name we pray; amen.
Published under
Devotionals