Power and Meekness

Power is something people will pay just about anything to obtain.  Meekness is not.

Jesus said that the meek shall inherit the earth.  Jesus said that He Himself was meek.  To be like Him we must walk as He walked: in meekness.

The dictionary defines meekness as being humbly patient or docile, even while under provocation from others.  My definition of meekness is having the power to do something and choosing not to use that power to do it.

For example, at one point the disciples wanted to rain fire down from heaven on some folks who weren't being helpful (Luke 9).  Jesus rebuked them.  Peter cut off a man's ear while trying to defend Jesus and Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Do you think I cannot call on My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?"  Jesus was meek, not weak.  He wasn't powerless; He chose not to use the power available to Him.

To mold us in meekness the Holy Spirit has a difficult task.  First, He has to teach us (and we have to believe) that we actually have power available to us by the Holy Spirit.  At the same time, even though great power is available to us, He has to teach us how to hear God and obey Him.  Jesus said that He only did what He saw the Father doing.  To use a simple illustration, just because you own a gun doesn't mean you use it any time you feel like it.  There are very specific uses of deadly force and a person must be disciplined enough to know when to exercise it.

The Spirit of God is the most powerful person on earth.  Through faith in Jesus Christ He lives in us.  Through faith in Jesus Christ our spirits are made one with the Spirit of God.  All power and authority has been given to the body of Jesus Christ to do as the God wills.  But, that is the key... as God wills.  In real time.

I encourage you to read everything in the New Testament concerning the power of God, given to the church, through His Holy Spirit.  As you read you'll come to these verses written by Paul:

"I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings..."  Philippians 3:10

It seems everyone wants to know the power but not many want to fellowship in His sufferings.  You can't have one without the other.  The sufferings of Christ produce the compassion we must have, as He had, in order to care as God cares.  It is my contention that what we really lack is compassion, not power.  When we find the compassion of God we will find the power of God at work.  When we find this power at work we will walk in the true meekness of God.