June 11, 2007
The Beatitudes: Misunderstanding MeeknessPosted by Bryan
The third promise of the Beatitudes is an interesting promise of God: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Meekness historically has been an attitude that has been criticized and ridiculed, rather than celebrated and pursued. Its reputation is certainly sullied and slandered and deeply misunderstood. Yet, if God categorically blesses those who are meek, wisdom demands the determination to clear up waters that have been muddied by improper thinking regarding what it means to indeed be meek.
First, meek does not mean "spineless." Many people think that the only way to be meek is to not take a stand on any given issue. Spineless people desire to appease the unappeasable and practice diplomacy with the irrational, illogical, uncivilized advocates of terrorism. Spineless people personally oppose the practice of homosexuality, but dare not speak against it in fear of being mislabeled a bigoted hater. The spineless have come to wrongly believe that a disagreement is won by who yells the loudest and consequently they fall silent. Spineless people dare not speak against abortion on the faulty platform that abortion is legal and opposing it only polarizes the nation. Spineless people say you can't speak out on sin because people won't hear the message of God's love if we keep hammering on sin.
Too many of America's churches are filled with weak leaders; consequently, too many pulpits have nothing to say about gossip, lies, pride, hatred, lust, adultery, materialism, greed, anger, and every other manifestation of the sin epidemic plaguing the nation. Too many political offices are filled with weak leaders; consequently, the nation increasingly appeases the violent, submits to the shouters, and responds to crises on the standard of popular consensus instead of common sense principles. Too many families are led by weak leaders; consequently, children grow up without maturing, confusing privilege for entitlement as each generation is increasingly ruled by its passions and enslaved by its lusts.
Peace is not attained by refusing to confront the enemy, whether the foe is real or idealogical, material or spiritual. The only result from nonconfrontation is that those who seek to avoid confrontation end up getting steam-rolled by that which they attempt to dodge. Peace is only accomplished by intentionally confronting those whoever or that whichever opposes unity, truth, and goodness. March for peace all you want. Have peace sit-ins, bake sales, and campfire sing-alongs; there comes a time in a peace-seeker's life that if they truly want to experience peace, they have to fight for it.
Think about this on a theological level. You want peace with God, but you live in a world that is controlled by the enemy, for a time. You have two ways to deal with this challenge - either by weakly running away from it, or by meekly facing it directly and dealing with the problem.
Some people have tried to gain peace with God by following a nonconfrontational ideology called monasticism. A monastic hopes to attain peace by fleeing the world. In the past, they would run from the world by locked themselves in a tower. The problem was that the enemy still pursued them.
Even if a monastic could escape from the world, he couldn't escape his own flesh. The flesh was and still is nothing more than a tool to be used by the adversary. So, rather than confront the enemy using the tools of spiritual warfare, some monastic adherents instead became known as the "flagellants" who whipped themselves bloody every time they had an impure thought. Sadly, Satan laughs hysterically at these poor souls because they don't attain peace, they just make themselves miserable.
The other extreme of nonconfrontation is seen in those who seek to avoid the enemy by indulging in every excess. This attempt gorges upon the symptoms, taking in every fleshly pleasure, wrongly thinking that by doing so, the person becomes immunized from the temptation as well as the tempter. Certainly, if the enemy gives no quarter to those who would flee to isolated towers, he will offer no respite to those who foolishly agree to every one of his consuming enticements.
Meek also does not mean "cowardice." When those who spend their lives sitting on the fence finally dismount, most do so not to fight but to flee. They run away afraid of the challenge. They misperceive opportunity, instead viewing it as a threat and a danger.
Cowardice is the manifestation of a spirit of fear. Cowardice says, "I can't share my faith with someone. What will they think of me?" Cowardice says, "I can't knock on a door and tell my friend about Jesus. They might not like me any longer." It is cowardice that closes a mouth when someone is asking about the difference that defines you. It is cowardice that leaves lies like evolution and promiscuity and relativity unchallenged. It is cowardice that is afraid of looking silly, stupid, unprepared, or any other word that reflects inferiority.
The Bible says in 2 Timothy that the Lord has not given his children a spirit of cowardice. So if He hasn't placed cowardice in your spirit, it doesn't make any sense that He would say "blessed are the cowardly."
Remember, God does not bless anything that He Himself has not given to you. He does not and will not bless cowardice, but he will and does bless boldness garnished in humility, confidence clothed in meekness.
One other thing -- meek does not mean "weak." One reason why so many Christians are opposed to being meek is that they are afraid that others will perceive them to be weak. This misperception is actually a result of an overreaction from the other misperceptions of meekness. Christians who desire to be bold for Christ will all-too-often overreact and go to ungodly lengths in their boldness. These are the people who shoot abortionists, who picket the funerals of homosexuals, and who are the first ones to start yelling in a discussion with a non-believer.
Make no mistake, anything done "in the name of Jesus" that betrays his nature is indeed ungodly and will be subject to judgment and condemnation. Likewise, these actions are the endeavors of the weak, regardless of how much might is proclaimed to be exerted in its execution.
It is the weak mind of the weak person who exercises no fortitude identified in the personality that submits to Christ. True meekness is the antithesis of weakness, as you will understand in the points to follow.
June 11, 2007 9:56 PM