Meekness
How about some simple thoughts this week? Are you meek?
Some years ago, I read in "Our Daily Bread" about a man named J. Upton Dickson, a fun-loving fellow who said he was writing a book entitled "Cower Power." Supposedly, he also founded a group for submissive people. It was called "DOORMATS." That stood for "The Dependent Organization of really meek and timid souls." Their motto was "The meek shall inherit the earth...if that's OK with everyone else." Their symbol was the yellow traffic light.
I'm confident none of that is true, but it does sort of describe our view of what meekness is, right? We picture someone who stays out of everyone's way and apologizes for everything...even what they didn't do.
But Jesus was, by his own description, "meek and lowly of heart." Moses was the meekest man on earth. Neither of them was weak.
I like A.W. Tozer's description of meekness better: "The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather he may be, in his moral life, as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God's estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That is his motto."
Enough of the take charge, bold, obnoxious, I'm-going-to-get-my-way-no-matter-what attitudes. Let's work this week on being meek. Let's recognize that all that we are and have is because of Christ in us; the hope of glory.
Some years ago, I read in "Our Daily Bread" about a man named J. Upton Dickson, a fun-loving fellow who said he was writing a book entitled "Cower Power." Supposedly, he also founded a group for submissive people. It was called "DOORMATS." That stood for "The Dependent Organization of really meek and timid souls." Their motto was "The meek shall inherit the earth...if that's OK with everyone else." Their symbol was the yellow traffic light.
I'm confident none of that is true, but it does sort of describe our view of what meekness is, right? We picture someone who stays out of everyone's way and apologizes for everything...even what they didn't do.
But Jesus was, by his own description, "meek and lowly of heart." Moses was the meekest man on earth. Neither of them was weak.
I like A.W. Tozer's description of meekness better: "The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather he may be, in his moral life, as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God's estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That is his motto."
Enough of the take charge, bold, obnoxious, I'm-going-to-get-my-way-no-matter-what attitudes. Let's work this week on being meek. Let's recognize that all that we are and have is because of Christ in us; the hope of glory.
Lord, may we resolve to make this week "Meek Week and Beyond". Thank you, Pastor, for bringing our focus to the challenge most needed today.
ReplyDelete"Meek Week and Beyond." I like that!
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