What does it mean to be meek?

Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."

What does that mean? To begin, we have to make sure we know what meekness is not. Meekness is NOT weakness. To be meek is to demonstrate a humility of heart and spirit in the knowledge of one's own inadequacy before the Lord. Jesus was essentially highlighting the stark contrast between the proud self-assessment of the religious leaders of His day with those who understand and acknowledge their own spiritual poverty and hopelessness without the gracious hand of God intervening in the person of Christ.

I am continually amazed at the political correctness adopted by Christians if/when they do present Jesus to others. The problem is that most Christians jump right to a person's need for Jesus, which on the surface sounds right enough. However, unless a person knows AND admits his own sin nature and his sure path to destruction and hell, the idea of trusting Jesus carries little urgency or even importance.

In any given person's life, their journey begins with optimism, hope, and a bright outlook. As they grow older, they begin to witness and experience mortality. This triggers an investigation into the matters concerning the life after this life. Whether they believe in the afterlife or not, they nevertheless wrestle with those questions. As they age even further, the surety of death comes ever closer, challenging them to make decisions.

We read daily of the "premature" death of many young people, whether teenagers or twenty-somethings. Their regular rejection of Christ is sourced from their natural dismissal of death's potential. The American culture has also contributed to this casual refusal of the Christian witness because the Christian faith has been erroneously stereotyped as restrictive and guilt-ridden.

Now we return to how blessed are the meek. The meek Christian has such an intimate and life-transforming knowledge of his own sinful nature, his consequent prior separation from God and destiny to hell, God's amazing grace given in Christ's substitutionary death on the cross, God's re-creation (birthing again) and regeneration of the person, God's consequent justification of that person and adoption into the family of God, with certain eternal life with God in heaven upon departure from this life!

When the Christian comes to a fuller understanding of his "position" in Christ, in spite of his sinful nature, his witness is then so much more compelling and impacting upon the person with whom he shares Christ. When that person "sees" it in the witness, that person then comes to a realization of the freedom truly felt by the Christian and the fullness of life truly experienced by the Christian.

Meekness leads to inheritance - for every genuinely converted follower of Christ is a joint-heir with Him!

Dish out