THE MEEK AND THE MIGHTY

(These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)

Matthew 5:5-6
“Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.”

Some portions of the Bible are very clear. This one is not. The word meek and macho just don’t seem to go together, and at least for the male of our species, the very idea of meekdom sends chills up his collective spine.

But., you know, to really understand a word it helps to chase it down through several languages. Start with Hebrew, the native language of the Old Testament. It translates meek to mean God molded. Greek, the language of the New Testament deciphers the word meekness to mean good will toward man, and reverence toward God. The French translate it, as only the French would, “Blessed are the debonair.”

Don’t gag, because a French theologian would go on to explain that this kind of God-meekness puts a practicing believer above all others. With this kind of meekness he can throw off anger, jealousy, fear, insults… anything. He is above rancor. He is God’s own.

Have you ever heard of “The Order of the Sacred Meek?” Probably not, because I made it up. It isn’t that it never existed before. It is just that many people haven’t known that they were members.

They automatically enroll for membership all the time…when they write letters to the editor and then sign their complaint anonymous. Never speak for or against an issue unless they are sure they are in safe company. Never dare to voice a Christian opinion that might cause them to be labeled a religious fanatic or a pious prude.

In trying to practice proper meekness, the biggest battle is with time. As people get older they get tired. They want security, comforts and friends. They don’t want to run around making enemies for morality’s sake or salvation’s sake or even God’s sake. Things that once they fought, they just let slide by. It is called, ”I’m good for a mile of highway but can hold up for no more than ten feet in a swamp.”

In the 84th Psalm you can read, “Passing through the valley of weeping, they make it a place of springs.” That is what practicing meekness before God brings to pass. Not meekness before God every now and then…when it is convenient…when it is easy…when it requires no effort, because “You cannot be a noble person by being noble sometimes any more than you can possess learning by reading every now and then.”

Be meek before God and one does not claim privileges. One seek duties. One not demand of God that He let you do what you want. Rather you will ask, “What would You have me do?’ You will not pray for comfort but instead pray to be filled with heavenly concern. You will be mighty with a godly meekness. You will be a giant among moral midgets.

On a television program I watched many years ago entitled, “Once Upon A Tractor,” the hero asked the heroine, “Who are you? What’s your name?” She replied, “Who am I? What’s my name? Which do you want? They’re entirely different.”

So who are you? Well, you are more than the name you have on your mailbox or business card or in someone’s address book. You are what people think about you when they think your name. You are what you are meek before.

Thomas Paine in bolstering the soldiers in the cold of Valley Forge during our Revolutionary War wrote, “be more than sunshine soldiers and summer patriots.” And I think that is what Jesus is telling us over and over again. That we must “live above the rabble with their thumb-worn creeds.” (anonymous)

Can such commitment be inconvenient, wearying, relentless, time consuming? Yep. Indeed, it can be. But consider its lack, as one poet wrote,
I never cut my neighbor’s throat.
My neighbor’s gold I never stole.
I never spoiled his house and land.
But God have mercy on my soul!
For I am haunted night and day
By all the deeds I have not done.
O un-attempted unsought goals,
O costly valor never won.
(rewrite of unknown authors poem)

In the 19th chapter of John, the 38th verse, there is the following quote, “Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus, but secretly.” And that is the problem, now isn’t it? That secret society again of 21st century Christians, who make little or no impact on the community, by either word or deed.

Today, too many people want the good life delivered to their door with the morning paper. Delivered is the keyword. They want other people to do what they have never done, and be what they have never been and what unfortunately many will never do.

Secretly goodness and godliness and strength of character has their vote. Secretly.

Matthew 5:5-6
“Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.”

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