“in humility think more of each other than you do of yourselves”
As written in Matthew 5:5, Jesus told His disciples, “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth” (ASV.)
How can this be? In our modern society, people don’t value meekness, and consider people with this characteristic as unassertive, easily dominated, bound to a doormat life, and the only way to escape this fate is self-determination.
Was Jesus telling His followers to be good doormats?
You hear the phrases all the time. “If you can dream it, you can do it” (Walt Disney.) “Decide what you want. Believe you can have it. Believe you deserve it, and believe it’s possible for you” (Jack Canfield, American motivational speaker and author; co-creator of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series.) Steve Jobs, an American business entrepreneur (e.g., Apple) said, “Don’t be afraid. You can do it.” If someone took this advice to heart, jumped off a cliff, and decided to grow wings because he “deserves” them, he’s headed for a sudden change of mind.
When Jesus spoke of the meek, He was not speaking of personality, but a work of the Holy Spirit cultivated in our lives. The word in Greek is praus, meaning “gentle.” The meekness Jesus spoke of doesn’t come from weakness, but our submission to the power of the Spirit.
“Never act from motives of rivalry or personal vanity, but in humility think more of each other than you do of yourselves” (Philippians 2:3, PHILLIPS.)
There’s two ways God commands meekness from us: submission to His will and bearing of injuries from others. There’s a true story that illustrates this.
On January 8, 1956, five young missionary men were murdered while attempting to bring the gospel to a violent, indigenous tribe in Ecuador named the Huaorani. The missionaries all had wives, and among them four young children. They knew the effort could take their lives, but after much preparation, believed God was leading them to this task. This submission to God’s leading may well be described as “meekness.” All of these men could have led successful lives in the States, but they answered God’s call.
Did this outcome surprise God? The simple answer is no, but the total picture remains difficult for us to understand. Was God “wasting their lives?” No. God’s understanding of events and His ways are far above us. To accept this truth may be called meekness.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9, ESV.)
After their deaths, a sister of one of the men, and the wife of another, along with her daughter, returned to the Huaorani, to offer the tribesmen forgiveness. Many in the tribe accepted Christ as Savior, including at least one of the murderers. Ultimately, the New Testament was translated into the Wao language.
These women also exhibited meekness. They obeyed Christ in their return to the tribe to finish the work of the missionary men, and showed forgiveness to those who had wrong them, and returned good for evil.
“It is not the level of our spirituality that we can depend on. It is God and nothing less than God, for the work is God’s and the call is God’s and everything is summoned by Him and to His purposes, the whole scene, the whole mess, the whole package—our bravery and our cowardice, our love and our selfishness, our strengths and our weaknesses . . . I reminded Jim of what we both knew it might mean if he went. ‘Well, if that’s the way God wants it to be,’ was his calm reply. ‘I’m ready to die for the salvation of the Aucas.’ While still a student in college Jim had written: ‘He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.’” (Elisabeth Elliot, Through Gates of Splendor)
When we are faced with trying circumstances, perhaps, we can hold on to the truth that nothing happens to us apart from the watchful, loving eye of God. Still, we may ask Him, “Why?” His reply may be, “Trust Me without knowing why.”
“They won’t be frightened at bad news. Their hearts are steady, trusting in the Lord.” Psalm 112:7
I’ve read Jesus described as the “ultimate doormat.” Now, I’m not a Biblical scholar, and I do not criticize those who hold this view. I try to understand these things through scripture.
“For this reason, the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father” (John 10:17-18, ESV.)
Our Savior had authority from the Father to choose whether to go to the cross. He modeled meekness: obedience to the Father, and He forgave those who crucified Him, all to pay the price for our salvation. Jesus chose to die for us. He chose. He died with power and authority. He gave His life willingly to save us.
There were times I felt in my heart that I was somehow better than another, because I’m a Christian, and the other person is an unbeliever, or perhaps, they were rude, or selfish and inconsiderate, or a liar, or an addict, or a drunkard, unfaithful in marriage, a thief, or violent, or an ex-con.
I’m no better. I’ve never been arrested, fined, or jailed. I haven’t lied since I was a kid, and I’ve never been unfaithful.
I’m no better. I sin in many ways a Christian should not: indifference, selfishness, anger, unforgiveness, and other ways, and it is only the blood of Christ that separates me from the wrath of God. But I can take joy knowing that Jesus chose to die for me on the cross, and this joy spurs me to tell others about Him, because I’m a sinner like them, but forgiven through Christ.
“The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:38, NASB.)
In the Beatitudes, Jesus tells His disciples, and us, we are blessed if we are poor in spirit; we are blessed if we mourn for our sins; we are blessed if we are meek, that is, put humility into action.
“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (I Corinthians 1:18, ESV.)
Selah