Attitude Update #3  Gentleness brings success.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5

“God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.” Matthew 5:5 (NLT)

“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.” Matthew 5:5 (The Message)

Blessed are the Meek?

Meekness sounds a lot like weakness until you look at the person who wielded the most power who ever walked the earth, Jesus Christ. God himself stepped out of Heaven, was born to a humble virgin girl, in a stable, and took on human form to look like an ordinary man and His name is Jesus the Christ which means Savior, Messiah.

Imagine the power to turn water into wine, cause blind people to see, instantly heal the paralyzed, and even raise the dead to life. He took two loaves of bread and a few fish, turned it into enough food to feed over 5,000! It doesn’t matter how much money you have and status you have right now or ever, you won’t be able to take a Chic-Fil-a sandwich and fries and even double it, much less multiply it to feed 5,000. Jesus had real power.

Would you misuse this kind of power? Sure! Some of us would be like Darth Vadar! Throat chocking someone across the room! Don’t be so spiritual that you would say…. “I’d never!”  No other human could hold such power and handle it properly. We would be zapping people driving wrong on the interstate, multiplying our cases of beer and chocolate, and getting bigger houses and better cars. We could not handle that kind of power, it would go to our head. Jesus was the meekest person who ever lived but also wielded the most power of anyone who would ever live.

Meekness is having your strength under control. The strong and blisteringly fast horse who has never been trained with a bit in its mouth will never win the Kentucky Derby. It may have the strength and power but it needs the rider to guide it.

Meekness controls the way we speak to others.  The half-brother of Jesus, James, wrote about the power of the tongue, our speech and described it as a bit, a rudder, and a single match. Our speech is the most evident thing that we are a gentle meek person and not an angry, abusive, harsh, and hurtful person. James wrote, “When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. ⁴ Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. ⁵ Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” James 3:3-6 NIV

Conventional (worldly, earthly, natural) wisdom says every dog, man, woman, and child for himself. If you don’t believe that you haven’t been to a kids’ soccer game at the park on a recent Saturday morning!  Step on and use whoever you need to in order to climb to the next level. This view believes your success depends on others’ failures and losses. It views life as a competition and the only ones who matter are the ones who are at the top of every pursuit. This view of life is dominating and self-promoting. This view is so very far from God and Christ-like character which is another reason why Jesus came to earth. We would not know meekness is God’s expectation of us if He had not demonstrated it to us. Being nice doesn’t make you meek. A scoundrel can be nice.

• Meekness says, I am going to let God power up on this situation and not me.
• Meekness says, I trust God to work this out with His power, because He can do more in a moment than I can do with all of my strength in a 1,000 years.
• Meekness is trust in all powerful God who loves you, is looking out for you and wants you to succeed.
• Meekness is God’s pathway to success for you because it is a moment-by-moment trust in God instead of your own self.
• Meekness is not an outward characteristic. It is an inward quality worked into you by the power and grace of God as you seek to follow Jesus.
• Meekness reveals authentic genuine character that can be trusted.
• Meekness keeps you from powering up on someone who is weaker than you are.
• Meekness makes you an approachable person and useable by God.

The Meek WILL INHERIT the earth! You will be the real winner in the end.

Everything is yours when you follow Jesus and allow Him to work meekness in you. When the trophies, bank accounts, and accomplishments of this world are all burned up in the end you will have a reward of relationships in Heaven that are more valuable than anything you could accomplish here. Jesus won the victory for our salvation, by riding into Jerusalem on a young donkey and allowing Himself to be crucified. He did not ride in on a white war horse, gather an army, and fight the perceived battle. He fought differently trusting in His Father’s Word to be accomplished if He obeyed.

Make the Daditude Point with your family: Dad’s our Heavenly Father wants us to be gentle, soft-spoken, and kind with our words. If there are things inside you that need to leave (anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, even out-of-bounds competitiveness, etc.) ask God to forgive you of these and fill you with His love. These wrong things will make you less like your Heavenly Father and not meek like He wants you. Your children will not see you as approachable and you will power-up on those who do not deserve it. Follow Jesus and let your Heavenly Father work in you His amazing meekness.

A Prayer to Become Gentle and use my strength like Jesus

Lord Jesus

My nature is not to be meek, but You have given me a new nature that is becoming more and more like You.

May my words and attitude make my children want to come to me like they wanted to hang out with you. May my children see the authentic gentleness within me and want to follow You because You are the One who makes me meek. May they see the strength of You in my gentleness and want to trust You more because of me.

Lord help me to be meek and not force my own way.  May I never power up on anyone whom I should never power up on.

Lord, anger keeps me from being meek, because I want to be in control. I yield all my anger to you, because the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Lord I don’t want to fight you or anyone else, I want to be meek.

Help me to be meek and trust in You, instead of being in control and trusting in myself.

Lord I commit all my plans, ideas, and thoughts about how things should be and go to you.  I yield to your will.  Meekness is trusting you Lord when I cannot see a way out.

Lord help me to grasp that getting what I want in life and getting what you want me to have doesn’t come by force, but unmanipulative gentleness that trusts in you.

Thank you that when I am meek, you provide all I need. Help my children to see how trust in You and gentleness wins the race of life. May they see me as a good example of Your amazing gracious quality of meekness.

I love you Lord and I want to be like you.

In Jesus’ name

Amen.

Bill Stevens

(c) 2019 Bill Stevens, Loveland, CO. No copy or reproduction of this without express written permission from the author.