Meekness, Boldness, Jesus in the Temple

Meekness or Boldness    
How Do You Want to Live....
         maybe Both?

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Matthew 5:5 NKJ     

 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.

Humility is Not Being a Doormat

Growing up in church I was taught many important lessons on God’s Way for my life.  I remember my second grade Sunday school teacher well.  One day she gave us a picture of Jesus to color with the title “Be Meek and Mild like Jesus”.  We colored the paper as she talked about how meek and mild Jesus was.  Oh, she sounded good, but, even at that age, she made me uncomfortable with her picture of Jesus as a meek and mild doormat for someone to walk over.  Even at eight years old, I just could not buy what she had to say.  My thought, “Why do I want to be like that?”  Her words just did not have the ring of truth, but I was unsure why.  That day, you see, had a long lasting impression on me.

Over the ensuing years, I thought of her lesson but seeing a different Jesus as I was taught and studied God’s word.  But for some time, the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:5 was a bother to me.  But, believing Jesus never said anything He did not mean, I just had to seek understanding; I still believe that.  So, how do we reconcile our 'modern' concept of meekness to understand this passage.  

Being Passive is not Meekness

I have come to understand, my teacher taught passiveness where God wants us to be active.  She taught being a doormat where God wants us to stand up for what is right.  She taught just gentleness when God wants us to gently behave but overtly act with boldness in His name.  She bordered on teaching spinelessness when God really wants us to have backbone toward needful people, injustice, and evil in our lives.  The problem came in that she did not understand the word ‘meek’ and what it meant.

The Bible meaning of Meakness
"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."  It is important for us to know that active Humility and Meekness does not mean for us to be a doormat and devoid of action.  True unselfish humble action for God’s Kingdom through the Holy Spirit is accomplished by continually seeking God’s desires in our earthly time.  But, we must not only “seek” we need to be active in His name.  

In the original Greek, this "meek" Jesus speaks of, means or can have any or all of these characteristics:  
(1) A person who is under self-control,
(2) one who is obedient,
(3) humble without pride, and/or
(4) one who is angry only at the right time,
                            (Barkley, Matthew, vol 1, p96).

Influential leaders of history often have one of two behaviors:  Either the humility of  Lincoln or Billy Graham or the pride and arrogance of Hitler and Stalin.  From this view, we see possessing humility is important to leading us to do greatness for God.  Billy Graham was the Clark Kent of mildness, but a Superman in speaking and doing God’s will.  Humility is not a weakness for we, as Jesus, are at our greatest when we are most humble, but just as Jesus taught us through His actions, there is a season for gentleness and a time for boldness.

Jesus was gentle, meek, kind, and showed great mercy in His healing of the blind, feeding of the thousands, curing the sick, and raising the dead.  But, there was a strong side to Jesus, and He demonstrated this often.  Jesus was bold in His behaviors when he saw things were wrong and not working for the lives of people.  His behaviors and words do tell us he was gentle, but other behaviors also shows us boldness in doing the Righteous behavior.

In Meekness Choose Your Battles

Matthew 21
12  Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
13  He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you are making it a den of robbers."

Jesus chose His time for His battles and did not “major in minor” issues.  He was patient, but He would strike out against evil... at the right time.  In His gentleness he would have compassion, heal, supply needs, and feed thousands of people.  Yet, I cannot imagine the horror of Peter when on the road to Jerusalem, Jesus chastises Peter for not being “mindful of the things of God”.  Jesus certainly was most strong in overturning the tables in the Temple during His last week.  Finally, you can feel the anger in Jesus’ voice when he strikes out, "woe are you..." Scribes and Pharisees” (great video) in Matthew 23.  This is certainly not 'modern' mild or meekness, but it is what Jesus meant, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

In Living with us, Jesus did not come just to lead us to salvation, he came to teach us how to live, to live a life pleasing to God.  God wants us to be gentle, kind, and, yes, meek.  But, He also wants us to stand up to the wrongs (evil) we find in our everyday lives.  His clearing the Temple of money changers was being Bold against injustice, at just the right time.  His desires for us is to be both humbly active and to be Bold in His name, seeking His Wisdom, being Pure in heart and doing His Will.

Walking the Talk

Jesus earthly life Sets the Example of how to live.  In Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount defines Christian living.  He preached the walk of Christian living.  But, most importantly, He walked the talk.  Unlike so many "modern" preachers He lived what he preached, but He was no doormat.

There is no sin in True Christian Boldness for Christ.  Do the Right Thing for Christ and let God take care of the consequences.

Thanks be to God.

(c) Lonnie Coggins

  
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Publication  0014

intro

IN OUR BEHAVIORS FOR JESUS, TIMING IS EVERYTHING.  JESUS HAD GREAT TIMING,  a great ability, and perfect patience in choosing the right words and the truly Righteous behavior at just the right time.  In His meek patience He teaches us much about the active time for boldness.  Click the link for more.    Please share the message on your Fb page as you like, and if you like, click the FB 'Follow' button to have notifications of these publications.  For other messages like this, visit my FB page, or on FB visit-"A Daily Thought Group".

http://lonnieadailythought.blogspot.com/2010/11/meekness-or-boldness.html