misc/nursing 1 Thessalonians 2:7 “But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children.”

This metaphor has much meaning to me, as nursing Micah – almost constantly- is part of my daily life.

For those of you who have never nursed a baby, it must be done tenderly. Babies won’t even suckle if you try to push their head against the breast! In fact, they brace their arms, push against you and cry. It must be done with gentle coaxing, especially if they are already upset or if they are just starting out. If you gently brush their face against the breast – sometimes even a few times, they open their mouth and then begin to eat. While they’re eating, you must quietly care for them and guard them from distraction or they stop!

How often do we try to jump down people’s throats with the gospel? I’m not talking about sharing the gospel – we are commanded to do this. I’m talking about the way that we share the gospel. Are we tender and gentle, showing people hope?

Or, how do we communicate when there is conflict? Do we rub people’s noses in their apparent sin and shame them by making sure that everyone else knows what we think about that person and expect them to be force fed “repentance”? Or do we gently, tenderly, quietly care for them and guide them to truth? Patiently, running it by a few times before they latch on?

Note, too, the reference to their reputation for being gentle. It’s not a “look at us, we are perfect”, it’s a reference to the foundations of their relationship. Because they have this relationship, they have the trust of church in Thessalonica. The relational foundations have been carefully laid, and the church will be able to listen to Paul, Silas and Timothy.

Look at the gentle assurances of their love in the first two chapters before they admonish or even instruct. A baby eats better if they are held and made to feel secure. They are soothed by gentle touches while they are fed. Whose advice are we more likely to take? That of our mother who tenderly feeds us or that of a stranger who never invites us to eat at their table?

Finally, only food will satisfy a hungry baby. Pacifiers do exactly that – pacify. But they do not remedy the root problem. A mother can tell when her child’s fussiness is due to hunger, and it is physically painful for nursing mother’s to hear their babies crying. As Christians, we all suffer if one member of the body suffers. Do we suffer and withhold nourishment by turning a blind eye or by not associating with sinners? Or are we, as my mother-in-law would quote, “one beggar showing another beggar where to find bread”?