Meekness is a fruit of the spirit that seems very much lost in our aggressive, self-centered culture. Because many people associate it with weakness, most do not admire others for being meek. Yet it is what we are called to be. Scriptural definition of the word meek means: those who are gentle and forgiving, submissive and teachable, patient under injuries, disposed not to render evil for evil, but to overcome evil with good.
Although weakness and meekness may look similar, they are not the same. Weakness is due to negative circumstances, such as lack of strength or lack of courage. Meekness, rather, is the result of a person’s choice to trust in God and lean on Him, as opposed to pushing for one’s own ways. Hence, meekness arises out of strength, not weakness.
Meekness is patience in the reception of injuries. It is neither meanness, nor a surrender of our rights, nor cowardice; but it is the opposite of sudden anger, of malice, of long-harboured vengeance. Christ insisted on his right when he said, "If I have done evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?" (Jhn.18:23) Paul asserted his right when he said, "They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily; nay, verily, but let them come themselves, and fetch us out," (Acts 16:37). And yet Christ was the very model of meekness. It was one of his characteristics, "I am meek," (Mt 11:29). So of Paul. No man endured more, and more patiently, than he. Yet they were not passionate. They bore it patiently. They did not harbour malice. They did not press their rights through thick and thin, and trample down the rights of others to secure their own.
Title : Meekness
Description : Meekness is a fruit of the spirit that seems very much lost in our aggressive, self-centered culture. Because many people associate it with ...