Photo by pure julia on Unsplash
By Mike Chaffin
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5
The Bible tells us in John 1 that Jesus is the Word of God and is God. When Jesus taught, the people of His day considered him to be prophetic, authoritative, and unlike any other Bible teacher they had heard before. However, Jesus’ teaching came from the Word of God, which at the time, was just the Old Testament. Jesus, the Word, was repeating what He had already taught through scripture, while expounding and explaining the written word.
Jesus taught the meek would inherit the earth. He listed this in the Beatitudes, a list of blessing for believers. However, He had already told David the ways of righteousness and salvation who wrote it down as a Psalm and is recorded as Psalm 37.
But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. Psalm 37:11
Oftentimes when we think of the world’s definition of meekness and we get a picture of a milk toast, a person unable to defend themselves. Shyness is a synonym for meekness. However, that is not the case for Christian meekness. The Biblical definition of meekness is an attitude or quality of heart of a person willing to accept and submit without resistance to the will and desire of another. In this case the other is God. This is how we come to understand how meekness defeats the vice or sin of selfishness.
Jesus showed us His meekness in the Garden of Gethsemane when He prayed for God to take the cup of wrath away that was going to be poured out on him at the crucifixion, but ended his prayer with, “but not my will but thine be done.”
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, Colossians 3:12
Meekness isn’t listed as a fruit of the Spirit as it comes before the fruit is implanted in us. It is the soil of our soul from which spiritual fruit can grow. It must be who we are as Christians.
I encourage you to read Psalm 37 in its entirety. It speaks to much of what is Christian life, and many of the vices, virtues, and emotions we have covered in this series. The meek inheriting the earth is only one of the blessings we receive.
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for your sacrifice on the cross for our sins. Thank you for showing us Christ like meekness. Help me to be fertile ground for your will to be done in my life. In Jesus’ name, amen.
