Who is meek?
Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
But, what is meekness exactly? If you Google it you’ll find:
meek /mēk/
adjective 1. quiet, gentle, and easily imposed on; submissive.
While being gentle and quiet is just fine, I would imagine most of us wouldn’t want to be described as “submissive” or “easily imposed on. That’s because someone who is those things would have a hard time getting what they want in life. Jesus, though, is painting a portrait of a disciple in this teaching and his point here, when taken in context with the rest of the Sermon of the Mount (Matthew 5-7), helps us see that what he is showing us is utterly different than anything else we have come to learn about getting ahead in life.
THE MEEK LEVERAGE THEIR STRENGTH FOR THE GOOD OF OTHERS
This meekness is a lot more than the definition above leads us to conclude. When Jesus states that people who are meek can consider themselves “blessed” he doesn’t just mean people who are gentle or quiet. He is talking about someone who is also strong and bold, someone who is assertive and tenacious. A Christian is meek because they understand the strength they possess in their identity in Christ, and they learn to leverage that strength for the good of others.
The mark of meekness is not the absence of assertiveness. It is the absence of self-assertion. Successful and forceful people must learn how to use their strength for others, not themselves. We wound people if we use our strength selfishly. - Daniel Doriani
In a world that seems to place so much value on me putting myself and my desires first, how can it be valuable for me to take the time and energy to instead use what I have for the good of others?
Jesus says it’s the only way to inherit the earth - in other words, the only way to receive the eternal gift God has stored up for his children is to be meek.