Meekness, Not Weakness

Scripture_Matthew 5:5: 

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Greetings: Praise God for this day, and His eternal word which is a lamp unto our feet and truly a light unto our path. Today, I woke up with a song on my heart, "Jesus is the Winner Man!" I can only smile and chuckle because the Lord knows how to lift our hearts into His truth. There are times when it seems that our adversary triumphs for a season, but the end of the story is that Jesus is the Winner Man! and we are on the winning side---not because we win enough battles and have victory, but we trust in the only one who won forevermore when He came to earth as a baby born in a manger, died on a cross for our sins, and was raised from the grave ascending back to the Father...our winner man Jesus Christ!

Meditation:

As we recall, the term Beatitude means happy, fortunate, or blissful.

In this discourse in Matthew 5:5, Jesus  pronounces a blessing upon the meek declaring that they shall inherit the earth. Oftentimes, meekness has a connotation of weakness, timidity, and the like which usually come to mind. In this world, people are praised for their strength, ability to get the job done like a bulldog, even if it means that people along the journey are pushed down, or cast aside, or the weak, elder, defenseless are oppressed. The end justifies the means. 

However, Jesus shows us a more excellent way to live. The real meaning of meekness in the original language means gentle, of a soothing disposition. Meekness has the connotation of having an attitude toward God that He has allowed situations in our lives for a reason and we trust in His sovereignty. 

In Matthew 11:28-29, Jesus says:

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest for your souls.

In the preceding scriptures, Jesus prays to the Father thanking Him for revealing Himself to babes, not the wise and prudent. Then he quotes the scriptures above calling anyone in earshot to come and find rest for your soul. Jesus, the son of God declares himself to be meek and lowly in heart as an example for us to follow. Having all power, all authority in His hand and the ability to exercise it, He chose instead to be yielded to His Father's will. He says elsewhere that He does nothing unless the Father tells Him. 

How do we embrace this attribute of meekness, allow it to become a part of us, and live it out as doers of the word we hear? Definitely not by our might or power, but with the help of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ within us. I can speak from example, the moment I set out to do something like...be humble, for instance, the Lord will bring a wonderful situation to clearly show me just how long my humbleness last. Then a few seconds later I am repenting for having reacted. It is our nature to defend ourselves, stand up for our rights, and not to allow others to take advantage of us. In and of themselves, those qualities don't seem bad, but when we look in the light of the word, the Lord may enlighten and alter our path if we inquire of Him. 

I can give you example after example, but will boil one down. In this case, many years ago, :)) I asked a previous employer to talk and come back to his office just as he was about to walk out the door for the weekend. I needed to understand some bad behavior and the sun was going down, but it wasn't going down on my wrath! I turned on all the lights as I usually closed up his office, and sat down in his easy chair. To conclude, God took this big lemon of a situation I created and turned it into lemonade because he understood the pain in my heart and had seen everything. As this was totally out of character for me, my boss became a diplomat which ticked me all the more. He apologized and then turned the tables and brought to my attention a few things that I wasn't aware of that I do, since we were having this open discussion. A good 2-for-1. We both learned to be more sensitive toward one another and not take one another for granted. We both changed and readjusted with God's help. The evening ended with a big hug and wonderful words that were said from one who was my boss and in a sense like a grandparent.

Do we seek the Lord's direction to respond to life's challenges, or challenges with others? The Lord sees the end from the beginning and knows the intention of the heart. Although that person was wrong, although the boss was unfair, God sees the heart and if we allow, would work something of compassion in our hearts to pray for them to change, not only for our justice, but for their deliverance (and ours too), and for those who come after us. There are also times when He will rouse us to confront matters because He sees another spirit in operation, but we will do so with His heart and spirit if we seek Him first. He will strengthen us, conform us, and bring to light the real  issue to be dealt with or relationship that needs to be healed. He will teach us how to pray.

The bottom line, as I remind myself, is that if we seek the Lord, learn of Him, we will find more rest for our souls than our souls can ever have on our own. He will give us direction, instruction, and greatest of all, His heart on the matter. 

I am reminded of what the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 2:5-9...

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

The Lord had plenty of opportunities to retaliate, take revenge, but He kept His eyes forward on the mission He was sent to accomplish which was to walk a sinless life and be the atoning sacrifice for us and redeem us from our destruction. He said on the cross, "Father glorify thy name." Although it seems as though the adversary won for a season, we too can say the same, "Father this looks awful, but glorify thy name in this. If I must go through it, get glory out of it." We know the end of the story. Jesus rose from the grave and ascended to the Father and everyone who trust in Him shall be saved. Jesus is the Winner Man!  Let's pray.

Prayer:

Dear Lord, thank you for your love. Thank you for being born in a manger as a baby, a humble baby who could do nothing alone, but be totally dependent. As you were, so are we in this world. We depend upon you. Please draw us to your throne of grace to find mercy and help in our time of need. You are the winner! Heaven is our final destination where we will be with you for all eternity and you will give us strength every day and purpose in the meantime. We rejoice in this season because your Spirit of generosity permeates the world. Cause your light in us to shine amidst the darkness as you did so long ago. May those who are afar off be drawn to you. We ask this in Jesus' name. 

Eternally yours,
Amen.

I pray this has blessed you!