Declare All the Truth! With Gentleness!

When sharing the Gospel, God gives us instructions on how to behave:

2 Timothy 2:24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,

25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;

The servant of the Lord is not to strive. But is to be gentle and apt to teach, etc.

What we do not find anywhere in the Bible, when it comes to sharing the Word of God, is to take into consideration the thoughts, feelings, and understandings of the ones we are declaring these things to.

That is, we do not learn a truth from the Bible, and then consider how that particular truth might impact others. We do not spend time thinking, maybe they won't like this. Or, maybe this will be so hard a truth it will hurt their feelings. Or a teaching like this might discourage them. Or maybe a teaching such as this will make them mad. The servant of the Lord does not, cannot take these things into consideration. How much of the Bible's truth would be able to pass these type of filters? Considering the thoughts and feelings of the hearers would certainly lead to much Biblical truth being held back. And the reason why would be because we were disobeying God by being a respecter of persons.

Deuteronomy 1:17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's:

Just because we are not to be respecters of persons in judgment (in declaring the Word of God) does not mean that we are to take a sledge hammer approach when sharing the Word of God. Not at all.

Again, God directs His servants to not strive (fight/argue) but to be gentle unto all.

The Greek word translated as "gentle" (#2261) in 2 Timothy 2:24 is found twice in the N.T. The only other place is in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2:

1 Thessalonians 2:7 But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children:

This is our guide whenever we share things from the Bible. As God's servant we are to avoid strife and be gentle to all men – as gentle as a nurse cherishing her children. We must tell people the hard truths of God's Word. But maintaining a gentle manner as we tell them those things is very important.