How Do Gentleness and Humility Reduce Stress?
By Rick Warren

“Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29b NIV).

The third thing Jesus says in the Bible’s stress management sentence is, “Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29b NIV).

What can you learn from Jesus Christ that will lower the stress in your life? Gentleness and humility. You say, “Wait a minute! That’s not exactly what I want to learn. Why didn’t Jesus say, ‘I’ll teach you endurance and stamina’ or ‘I’ll teach you confidence and courage’?” Jesus wants you to learn gentleness and humility to help manage your stress. Why?

You probably don’t realize it, but the two biggest causes of stress in your life are arrogance and aggression.

Aggression happens when you do things too quickly. You don’t wait. You don’t ponder. You don’t delay. You don’t think it through. You don’t trust God’s guidance and direction. You just jump in with both feet. And as a result, you get over committed, and you fill up your life with a lot of things that it shouldn’t be filled with.

Arrogance is the idea that you know what’s best for you, so you’re going to control everything in your life. You think you can handle things better than God can. Don’t you think that attitude probably creates a great deal of stress in your life?

The truth is when you try to do it all, have it all, be it all, and experience it all, that is aggression and arrogance. What’s the antidote? Gentleness and humility. The two things we think we don’t need in life are the two things that reduce stress in our lives.

You’ve tried everything else to reduce your stress. Why don’t you try trusting God? Come to Jesus. He is gentle and humble of heart, and he will give you rest.

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Talk It Over

  • How can you practice gentleness today with the people and in the activities you have committed to?
  • What does it mean to humble yourself before God?

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This devotional © 2016 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

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