“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5)
I’ve always had a little trouble reconciling the notion of meekness with my inherent and cultivated passionate personality. Dictionary.com defines meekness as being “patient; docile; overly submissive,” which in my mind never fit with the athletic mentality of confidence and zealous exertion. The adage, “Meekness is not weakness, but power under control,” helped the issue, but still didn’t solidify anything for me. But John MacArthur, in his Grace to You study of the beatitudes, shed light on this seeming controversy, and pointed out how one can be both meek and fervent.
The key is the object of your passion. If you are passionate about yourself – your promotion, your recognition, your success – then of course you are not humble, submissive, or gentle, and therefore not meek. If, on the other hand, you are passionate about God and His glory, then you can be humble about yourself and assertive about Him. Jesus was the perfect embodiment of meekness. He did not care how people affronted, ridiculed, beat, abused, or even killed him personally. He took it. However, when people were blaspheming God (i.e., the temple incident in Mark 11), He retaliated with righteous anger. So we are to be passionate, just not about ourselves, but about God’s Holy Name.
This visual helps me so much because I’ve always found it easier to focus on what TO do, rather than what NOT to do. Before, meekness always seemed like negative (don’t promote yourself, don’t desire your own way above others’, etc.), and it does carry that, but it also carries the positive: focus on God, His holiness, and what He deserves. I deserve nothing, which is why I should not promote myself, and also why I should be patient in affliction. He deserves everything, which is why I should be zealous about proclaiming His truth, and give my all to protect the sacredness of His renown.
Meekness is an abandonment of self for an adherence to God.
