Some of my favorite people of all time have been characterized by the personal quality of meekness. It’s a misunderstood quality and a quality that all Christians should strive toward. Why? It is a quality of our Savior and Lord, Jesus. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:1
Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ…
First of all, meekness is not weakness. Meekness is having a gentle spirit, which means that in interactions with other people, a meek person is humble and kind. The Bible is full of examples of people that are meek, but I thought I would give some examples of meek people that I have personally witnessed.
My father-in-law is a meek man, though at first glance one might not expect him to be. He’s retired military and even though he’s been retired quite a while now, he still has the look. He’s tall, has wide shoulders and even though he’s not what I would call scary looking, he definitely doesn’t look like a guy you’d want to tango with in a dark alley. I say all of that to say, to be meek is not to be weak. Everywhere I have ever gone with him, it is a wonderful thing to witness how kind, respectful and gentle he deals with other people. Small children, teenagers, elderly and people from all walks of life are treated with the same dignity and respect. Meek people treat all people with dignity and respect.
My best friend is a meek man. His meekness is put on display in his everyday interactions with all people. In humility, he seeks to understand people fully by asking lots of questions. He will often repeat what was just said to him in order to make sure he did not misunderstand. He values people. He treats them how he wants to be treated. Meek people value and seek to understand others.
An old baseball coach of mine is a meek man. He got the best results out of me and my teammates and he never raised his voice. Many won’t believe it, but it’s not necessary to raise your voice to be an effective coach. He could, and did, still punish us just a severely when it was warranted, but he handled us, even in our punishments, gently. The team excelled because he kept us relaxed. We didn’t fear getting yelled at or being embarrassed when we made mistakes. He used our mistakes as opportunities to coach us up without intimidating us. Meek people do not use fear or intimidation to motivate.
My greatest friend of all time is a Jewish man named Jesus. He treats all people with dignity and respect. He values all people equally and understands people better than they even understand themselves. He motivates people with love. He displayed his overwhelming love once and for all when He accepted a terrible punishment and death for every wrong thing that I’ve ever done. He had the power to defend himself, yet did nothing in his personal defense. As we study what it means to be meek this week, let us turn our eyes on the very definition of perfect meekness, Jesus the Christ.
- Wes LeFlore (918) 607-8489 or huskerwes1@gmail.com
