Meekness:
Strength
restrained. People who possess this character attribute are committed to
gentleness and quietness. As opposed to those who are loud, showy, and arrogant
whose only strength is often in their loud words, the meek possess a strength
that is much deeper and is often expressed in sacrificial love for other
people. Most often found in the people you don’t ever really notice.
As you can imagine, meek people don’t seem to get very far
in our world. Those who are meek are often overlooked, ignored, and at times,
walked on. It doesn’t make sense to be meek. But, Jesus’ way of doing things
didn’t make a lot of sense either. Unlike Harvard University, a Fortune 500 company, or
professional football teams who are looking for the best and brightest, the
strongest and the fastest, Jesus said that His followers would be made up of
the weakest and poorest. The last person you would pick for your team would
likely be Jesus’ first pick.
Imagine this, you are in charge of selecting a person for a
very special assignment. The assignment:
to free over one million men, women, and children from slavery. The candidate will lead
those people across miles of hazardous terrain to a place where they can live
in peace. It must also be noted that other people currently live at that
location. They are strong, well-fed, and live in well-defended cities. Your
candidate must lead his unarmed former slaves to a military victory against
them.
What sort of possible candidates would come to your mind?? It
would need to be someone incredibly courageous, with the ability to motivate
people with their eloquent words. It would be important that they also have military and leadership experience. Who would you choose? George
Washington? Napoleon? Iron Man?
How about a gentle-natured shepherd with a speech
impediment?
That’s who God selected.
A writer of the Torah described him
like this:
“Now the man Moses was very meek,
more than all the people who were on the face of the earth.”
-Numbers
12:3
Moses wasn’t just a little quiet and slightly gentle. He was
the most gentle and quiet man on the planet! God often selects meek people to
change the world. A couple of thousand years later, Jesus would say it like
this:
“God
blesses those who are gentle and lowly, for the whole earth will belong to
them.”
-Matthew
5:5
Although meekness rarely seems to get you ahead in this
world, it does seem to matter greatly to God. God likes underdogs. So, if you are feeling trampled on and overlooked today, don’t get discouraged! God may be preparing to
you change the world!
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