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

The Beatitudes. A famous list of “blessed are the” statements.  We first read them in Matthew 5. 

I like to think of them as the “Be Attitudes.”  Have the attitude to be poor in spirit, to mourn, to be meek…  and you will get all of the “for they’s.”

But in order to understand these statements, we need to define exactly what it means to be these things.

And we will start with “meek” because it is so commonly misunderstood…

Meek: having all of the power and authority to accomplish something and choosing not to use it

Meekness is not timidity, it is not weakness.  In fact it is the exact opposite.  It is power controlled.

Christ was meek… for He could have come down from the cross… but He didn’t.  He could have done anything… but He chose to be completely submitted to the will of the Father.  He even submitted what He would say to the Father, telling us that He only repeated what He heard the Father say.  All power and authority had been given unto Him… but He chose not to use it.

Solomon, in his famous “wisdom” request, was also meek.  He had been given all the power and authority to ask for anything from the Lord and he would have received it.  But He chose not to… he chose to glorify God and ask for wisdom so that he could rule God’s people.  And because he did, God gave him everything else.

And that is why the meek shall inherit the earth.  Because in Christ Jesus, we have been given all power and authority to go and take… but we are more than conquerors… we are heirs.  Because we choose to submit our power and authority unto God… that which we could go get on our own… our Father gives to us as an inheritance.

To be meek we must first realize that we have power and authority. 

To be meek means that we realize who we are in Christ.

Go… be meek.

SDG