Blessed are the Meek
by Angie Fotsis
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Matt 5:5
What does it mean to be meek? In the book, "Marks of the Cross," Bob Gladstone describes meekness as “the condition of character that has absolutely no agenda — except for Gods.”
He states that “Jesus was meek because He came to earth with no plans of His own, no mission except the one God gave Him. He had no personal ambition, no private scheme to promote or protect, no need to watch over His reputation.”
When we look at our lives, can we say that we have no plans of our own - no agenda except God’s? Do we seek to defend our reputation when wronged, misunderstood, or overlooked? Is there any personal ambition to promote ourselves or our ministry? Or are we looking to accomplish the will of our Father? Would we be ok with just the approval of God? Jesus was.
If there was anyone on earth that deserved justice, praise, or recognition, it was Jesus. But He entrusted the unveiling of who He was into the Father’s hands. He didn’t defend His reputation as God, but emptied Himself knowing that God would highly exalt Him and give Him the name above all names (Phil 2). He laid His life down to bring God the Father glory. He didn’t promote Himself, but was about His Father’s business. In John 6:38 Jesus says, “I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.” The cry of His heart was ‘your will be done - your Kingdom come.’ The world desperately needed a revelation of the Father and by Jesus’ response to Philip, we know that’s exactly what His mission was. He is our model of meekness.
There’s a day to come when all things will be uncovered. When we are meek and single minded, we will be rewarded in the age to come. We will inherit the earth! Paul says don’t we know we will judge the world (1 Cor 6:2)? This is the hope that energizes meekness. We will rule the world alongside our King! If there’s no vision of what’s to come, then naturally we will seek to be great in this world. We will seek to build our own kingdom. We will seek to defend ourselves when wronged. We will seek the approval of others. We will defend our reputation. We will try to gain and possess this world at the expense of the next. But meekness entrusts itself to the One who judges righteously (1 Peter 2:23).
God doesn’t ask us to lay down our lives without the intention of raising them up. He’s looking for us to lay down our lives so that we can bring Him glory and reveal Him to a lost and dying world. And on that great Day He will raise us up and glorify us. We can be confident that as we live hidden in Christ, when He appears we will also appear with Him in glory (Col 3:4). We will inherit our rightful position as heirs of God in proportion to our earthly surrender. He will reward all things that were done unto Him (even when no one sees). He will give the meek the earth as an inheritance. Until then, let’s be about the Father’s business, just like the Lamb of God was.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Matt 5:5
What does it mean to be meek? In the book, "Marks of the Cross," Bob Gladstone describes meekness as “the condition of character that has absolutely no agenda — except for Gods.”
He states that “Jesus was meek because He came to earth with no plans of His own, no mission except the one God gave Him. He had no personal ambition, no private scheme to promote or protect, no need to watch over His reputation.”
When we look at our lives, can we say that we have no plans of our own - no agenda except God’s? Do we seek to defend our reputation when wronged, misunderstood, or overlooked? Is there any personal ambition to promote ourselves or our ministry? Or are we looking to accomplish the will of our Father? Would we be ok with just the approval of God? Jesus was.
If there was anyone on earth that deserved justice, praise, or recognition, it was Jesus. But He entrusted the unveiling of who He was into the Father’s hands. He didn’t defend His reputation as God, but emptied Himself knowing that God would highly exalt Him and give Him the name above all names (Phil 2). He laid His life down to bring God the Father glory. He didn’t promote Himself, but was about His Father’s business. In John 6:38 Jesus says, “I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.” The cry of His heart was ‘your will be done - your Kingdom come.’ The world desperately needed a revelation of the Father and by Jesus’ response to Philip, we know that’s exactly what His mission was. He is our model of meekness.
There’s a day to come when all things will be uncovered. When we are meek and single minded, we will be rewarded in the age to come. We will inherit the earth! Paul says don’t we know we will judge the world (1 Cor 6:2)? This is the hope that energizes meekness. We will rule the world alongside our King! If there’s no vision of what’s to come, then naturally we will seek to be great in this world. We will seek to build our own kingdom. We will seek to defend ourselves when wronged. We will seek the approval of others. We will defend our reputation. We will try to gain and possess this world at the expense of the next. But meekness entrusts itself to the One who judges righteously (1 Peter 2:23).
God doesn’t ask us to lay down our lives without the intention of raising them up. He’s looking for us to lay down our lives so that we can bring Him glory and reveal Him to a lost and dying world. And on that great Day He will raise us up and glorify us. We can be confident that as we live hidden in Christ, when He appears we will also appear with Him in glory (Col 3:4). We will inherit our rightful position as heirs of God in proportion to our earthly surrender. He will reward all things that were done unto Him (even when no one sees). He will give the meek the earth as an inheritance. Until then, let’s be about the Father’s business, just like the Lamb of God was.