Meekness or Weakness?
“The meek shall inherit the earth” is one of the most familiar statements of the beatitudes, but so few people are truly meek. I think that is because most people assume that meekness equals weakness. In our day, the word meek conjures up images of a spineless person with no opinions and no influence. Someone who really is not going to make much of a difference.
Yet, meekness is really strength under control. Think Moses. He was a meek man, a powerful man with influence, but the Bible tells us he was meek.
Meekness is the opposite of an angry, self assertive person. Meekness is self control and humility all wrapped up in one bundle.
I have been so blessed to know some truly meek WIM(Women in Ministry). They have a love for others that draws people into a closeness with them and ultimately their Savior. They have a broader ministry than one might see at first glance, because they are so unassuming. Yet, when the Spirit of God reigns in a life, people are drawn to her because she is imitating Christlike humility.
I have also known WIM who are self assertive, self promoting, needlessly offensive and demanding. They want so much to be a woman of influence, but they go about it all wrong, and as a result , other woman keep them at an arms length distance, not willing to share their lives with them and only dealing with them at a minimum. They forfeit truly being able to minister to others because they are so busy looking out for themselves.
Listen to what Andrew Murray says about meekness in every dealing with people:
WHAT a solemn thought, that our love to God will be measured by our everyday intercourse with men and the love it displays; and that our love to God will befound to be a delusion, except as its truth is proved in standing the test of daily life with our fellow-men. It is even so with our humility. It is easy to think we humble ourselves before God: humility towards men will be the only sufficient proof that our humility before God is real; “
A meek spirit flows out of a heart of humility. One that recognizes that without the cross I am nothing. One that with the cross, leads other women by a godly example of humility, good works and service to others. They are characterized by being good in the most wholesome sense of the word. They Do what is right by others and others are better off because they knew them!
If you are a WIM, are you imitating Christ in this area of meekness?
Are you “teaching and doing”(Matt.5:19)? If you have a position of influence in your local ministry, God tells us that our effectiveness is measured by not just teaching but actually doing. Our lives should be a model of good works, a pattern that others will want to follow, because our lives and hearts and motives so closely resemble Christ.
Resources: Andrew Murray’s classic work “Humility.” Excerpt can be read here