Meek... Really?
Reflections on biblical meekness
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” —Matthew 5:5
“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.” —1 Corinthians 16:13-14
When I was a kid in church in the 80s, we used to sing an old song by The Cathedrals called He Saw What I Could Be. There’s a lyric in the chorus that says, “And all he had to hope for was just a possibility.” As a child of four or five years old, I was convinced the lyrics were, “And all he had to hope for was just a possum in a tree.” Of course, that didn’t make sense! But at five years old, it didn’t have to! I sang it with enthusiasm and meant every word!
Sometimes, things seem like they don’t make sense, but it’s our understanding that needs to change.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught, “Blessed are the meek.” And in his letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul wrote, “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.” I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that Paul’s commands don’t jive with Jesus’s Beatitude. When I think of “meek” I don’t think of phrases like “stand firm,” “be courageous,” “be on your guard,” or “be strong.”
What this reveals to me is that I have the wrong definition of meek.
My Dictionary/Thesaurus app gives these as synonyms of “meek.”
easily imposed on
lamblike
mild
unambitious
weak
timid
frightened
spineless
weak-kneed
wimpish
Now you see why 1 Corithians 16:13 seems to contradict Matthew 5:5. But Jesus was not teaching that it’s blessed to be frightened, unambitious, spineless, or wimpish. Jesus himself was none of these things! He was humble, gentle, and unoffendable, and also self-controlled, confident, and filled with quiet power (to calm the storm, cast out demons, and raise the dead—that’s a lot of power).
The best definition of biblical meekness I’ve found is from Colin Smith in his book Momentum. He says, “Meekness is strength brought under control through submission to God.” It takes far more strength to be unoffendable than it does to lash out in retaliation at the person who insulted you. It takes far more strength to choose holiness than to cave to temptation. It takes more strength to give yourself for the good of another than to put yourself first at the expense of others.
In fact, it takes more strength than I have. That’s why I have to submit to God. When I do, I receive God’s strength to “do everything in love,” as Paul wrote the Corinthians. I can’t make myself meek. But I can choose, through the Holy Spirit in me, to submit to God’s Word, God’s Spirit, and God’s people. And God will give me the strength I need to be meek, to be on guard, to stand firm in the faith, to be courageous, to be strong, and to do everything in love.