Meekness

This was actually a rewording of a scripture in the Psalms.

The meek shall inherit the earth, according to these scriptures. Then it would benefit us to know what meekness is and understand something about how to get it. The Greek word translated here as “meek” is the word “Praus”, and it means a mildness of disposition or a gentleness of spirit. Simply put it means to be mild and gentle.

Blessed are the mild and gentle: for they shall inherit the earth.

Meekness, or mildness and gentleness, is an attribute of God. God is mild and gentle. We can be certain of this because among the fruit of the Spirit outlined in Galatians chapter 5 are gentleness and meekness.

It is safe to conclude that the fruit of the Spirit describes the attributes or characteristics of God. God is love, He is joyful, He is peaceful, He is longsuffering, He is gentle, He is good, He is faithful, He is meek, and He is self-controlled or temperate. God would not expect us to be something that He is not already Himself.

God is meek, gentle, and mild of disposition. Jesus referred to Himself as meek and lowly in heart, or humble. It’s amazing to think that the only One Who has everything to boast about, the One Who created all things and set the universe into motion and by the word of His power sustains it, describes Himself as meek, gentle, mild of disposition, and humble.

Meekness is part of walking in the love of God. Jesus gave those who would believe on Him a new commandment, a commandment that they had not seen or heard before, and that was that they should love one another.

But it’s sometimes difficult for us to understand exactly what loving one another as He loved us is all about. What does that mean? What do we do to be obedient to that commandment? Well, thankfully the Bible answers that question for us and gives us a clearer picture of what walking in love is about in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. It has to do with specific behaviors and heart attitudes.

This describes the behavior of love. Love is patient and kind when it’s tempted to be otherwise, it does not envy even when someone else is getting blessed more than me, it is not proud and arrogant, it is not rude even when I want to be, it is not provoked to anger when things are going contrary, it thinks the best of every person, and so on.

To obey the commandment of Jesus to love one another involves our being willing to be obedient to adjust our behavior, and more importantly the attitudes of our hearts, to match the behavior of love as described in this passage of scripture.

I’m still talking about meekness. I haven’t left the original subject. Meekness is an attribute of love. It is developed in us as we endeavor to practice the love behavior of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. And that behavior is an outworking of the attitudes of our heart. So then the real issue, the real thing that needs to be dealt with, is the attitudes of our heart. We must change the attitudes of our heart. The one who develops a heart attitude of meekness has great peace.

As we endeavor to develop the heart attitude of meekness we resist those urges to be harsh and to react in a less than gentle manner to people and situations. In the process of doing that a peace begins to permeate our heart, a residing peace, a peace that is not easily shaken. One who walks in meekness can be said to “hold his peace.” He keeps his peace instead of losing it every time some adverse situation or hard-to-deal-with individual comes along, and that peace grows and resides within his heart.

Let me conclude this message by saying that meekness shuts the door to the devil. He cannot get through a meek attitude. And once he recognizes that he is not going to get through he will leave, and peace will settle in abundantly.