Praise
the Lord!!
Today's Message which i read...
"Blessed
are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5)
Meek
means gentle, mild, soft, not weakness but power under control. Barnes writes,
"Meekness produces peace. It is proof of true greatness of soul. It comes
from a heart too great to be moved by little insults". But the term
meekness, nowadays carries with it an idea of spinelessness. It paints the
picture of a submissive and ineffective creature. But originally the word meek
in Greek "praus" is one of the great Greek ethical words. Moses was the
greatest leader and the greatest law giver the world has ever seen. Numbers
12:3 says, "Now Moses was very meek, more than all men that were on the
face of the earth". But Moses was not a spineless creature. He could be
blazingly angry but he was a man whose anger was on the leash, only to be
released at the right time. This is what meekness is -"A man who gives
himself into the complete control of God gains meekness", writes Barclay.
Meekness is patience. It is neither meanness nor a surrender of rights nor
cowardice. In Biblical times, everyone assumed when the Messiah came, He would
be strong, forceful and powerful. The Pharisees probably expected a leader with
supernatural power. The Sadducees probably expected an eloquent politician, one
who can bring a great deliverance to the Jews. So when Jesus came as meek,
lowly and humble, they could not accept Him. In their minds, they refused to
consider Him as the Messiah. They hardly believed that Jesus would deliver the
Jews from the powerful Romans especially after His crucifixion because their
Scriptures had taught them that anyone who hung on a tree was cursed by God.
(Deut. 21:23) They were of the opinion that great causes were fought by the
proud and not the humble. How ignorant they were! Jesus was the very model of
meekness. He bore everything patiently. No man endured more patiently than He.
Dear
friends, let us be meek. Then we will not only gladly enter the kingdom of
heaven, but also inherit the land, the heavenly Canaan. May the Lord help us to
gain meekness.
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