Are You Fit to Live With?

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Matthew 5:

Meekness? As a word it’s not widely used. It sounds like some form of weakness until we read in the Bible that Moses was the meekest man who ever lived.

In fact, meekness is desirable for at least two reasons.

First, meekness refers to strength that is under control—like a lion that has been tamed. When Jesus speaks of meekness, he is describing a person who is strong but not domineering. A person who endures abuse but does not strike back. A person who suffers but does not threaten. A person who lives completely under God’s authority, who judges justly(1 Pet. 2:21-25). Who doesn’t like being around a person like that?

Second, a meek person has no sense of entitlement—no sense that God or the world owes them anything. What they have they celebrate as a gift, and what they don’t have they either work to earn or remain content to celebrate as a gift to others. Again, who doesn’t like being around a person like that?

Chris Cox is an example. During the 2013 shutdown of the US government, he traveled from his home in South Carolina to Washington, D. C. where he began mowing and blowing around the Lincoln Memorial. “At the end of the day, we are the stewards of these buildings that are memorials. I want to encourage my friends and fellow Americans to go to their parks and show up with a trash bag and a rake,” he told The Washington Post. “Show up with a good attitude and firm handshake for the US Park Service.” That’s meekness.

So while you might not choose to be meek, you will be blessed if you are—and not just you. You will be a blessing to those who live around you. Such people are the hope of the earth.

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: List some of the strengths you have (or that others say you have). When they aren’t controlled, strengths usually have a down-side. What are yours? Does it make you nervous to consider placing yourself completely under God’s authority? What’s the worst thing you fear he’ll call you to do?

PRAYER: As you bring to mind the unique strengths you’ve given to me, O Lord, I ask first of all, that you rid me of any false humility that blinds me to these strengths. And secondly, I pledge to submit my strengths to your control so that the blessings you’ve invested in me might become blessings to others around me. Amen.

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Dave Peterson is an ordained pastor who is the Director of Community Outreach for The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation and Scholarly Advisor for the H. E. Butt Family Foundation. He is the author of Receiving and Giving, Unleashing the Bless Challenge in Your Life. Dave and his wife, Terri, have four adult children and four grandchildren. Send a note to Dave.

All Things New

Every now and then, you notice it. You recognize the world in which we live is not quite living up to its potential. In the midst of the every day, tiny reminders creep through to reorient us to the truth that this world is not our home. Tainted by the Fall, all of creation yearns for the restoration of all things. We navigate the heartbreaks and the disappointments amid celebration and triumph. We wonder how to tackle injustice while we journal lists of gratitude and thanksgiving. Through it all, God is making all things new, just as he promised. He invites us to join him in the process. What might you contribute through your work and life while you journey through this one life you’ve been given? As a follower of Christ, what role might you be invited to play as God makes all things new? What difference does your vocation make in the work of restoration and redemption? Join the conversation in the series, All Things New.

Featured image by Tormod Ulsberg. Used with Permission. Source via Flickr.