Stepping Stones: Who Wants To Be Meek?

Transformational Tip

Due to work, I spend a lot of time in airports…luckily, I love to people watch. During a recent trip, I observed a sad but enlightening encounter between two strangers. The aggressor attempted to initiate a fight with another passenger over a place in the check-in line. But the target of the aggression would have no part of it; he gently stepped aside and let the provoker go first. I felt compassion for the one who stepped aside. The word that came to mind was “meek.”

I had often thought someone who is meek must be very quiet and without opinion. Someone who would let anyone walk all over them. Someone with no backbone…afraid and avoidant of conflict.

Searching the Scriptures for insight, I started “meek” really described a way of living and a state of mind—one that I was pretty sure I wasn’t doing and didn’t have. Reflecting back on the passenger, I realized he wasn’t weak, he was humble. He wasn’t letting someone walk over him…he showed kindness and good judgment. This was meek.

Jesus talks about those who are meek in the Beatitudes (part of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew). It’s one in a list of attributes or attitudes defining how believers ought to live. If you read through all twelve verses, you’ll gulp, shake your head and admit that the standards are very high. How can anyone act in these ways all the time? And then I realized…we can only live beatitude-ly with God’s instruction, help, and through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was meek personified, but…at the same time, He initiated conflict…started a revolution…stuck to His Father’s agenda, not His own. That is meek. Those who are meek are those who are humble before God. They appreciate their place and understand how they relate to their Creator. Basically, they understand that the world does not revolve around them, but God. He is the general manager of their universe, not vice versa. Thy kingdom come, not my kingdom come.

Today, try a little meekness in your interactions with others. Bend your knee and submit your will to that of our heavenly Father. Take your cue from Jesus. Let God work through you on others. Click here to share with the Stepping Stones community your perspective of being meek.

Prayer
Dear Father God, I do humble myself before You. I do want to live my life in line with the teachings of your Son Jesus. Fill me with You Holy Spirit so that I may be more meek than aggressive…more humble than prideful...more submissive to Your will instead of defiant…and most of all, more aware of your will, than focused on mine. I pray this in the name of the One you sent to be our teacher and our savior, Jesus Christ; and all God’s children say - AMEN!

The Truth
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Matthew 5:5
Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.
Numbers 12:3
He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.
Psalm 25:9