Meek is not weak. What is meekness, and how should we seek to serve God as “meek” people?
Meek is not weak.
Of course, this goes against what many of us have been taught. I mean, shouldn’t the “ideal Christian” be one who sits back and smiles all the time, ‘turns the other cheek’ when danger arrives, and remains ‘content’ and ‘calm’ in all seasons of life, no matter what?
Wasn’t Jesus a mild-mannered, sweet-tempered person who wouldn’t hurt so much as a fly?
Wasn’t Moses the most humble man on the face of the earth?
Isn’t the goal of the Christian life to be as sweet, gentle, and passive as possible?
I would submit to you that it is not. Somewhere along the way, a great mix-up has occurred.
We have confused meekness for weakness.
This Thing Called Meekness
All Christians are called to “meekness.” It’s in Scripture. In Matthew 5:5, we read:
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
This verse of Scripture comes to us in the opening of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which is widely regarded as the greatest sermon ever delivered in human history. It opens with the Beatitudes, and it’s in the Beatitudes that Jesus reveals the great value of meekness.
In college, I had a Bible study leader who taught through the Beatitudes. He called them “beautiful attitudes.” In other words, meekness is a beautiful attitude (or disposition, or way of being). It’s profitable. It’s right. It is God-honoring, and every Christian should seek to be meek.
But in order to be meek, we must understand what meekness actually is… and what it is not.
What is Meekness?
Meekness is, quite simply, power under restraint. It’s not the absence of strength; it’s the submission of that strength to a higher authority. Anyone can be meek, even powerlifters who can bench press a thousand pounds. But I digress. What are some Biblical examples of meekness? Where can we find this within the pages of Scripture?
Allow us to look at two Biblical examples of people who were meek: Moses and Jesus Christ.
Moses: a Man of Humility
Moses grew up in a place of high stature. A Hebrew, he was a descendent of the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But while his people – the Israelites – had lived in bondage to the Egyptian elite for centuries, Moses was different. Through a quirk that occurred shortly after his birth, he was raised as royalty in the Egyptian court.
Moses was, in essence, a king amongst his people. Yet this place of royalty would not last.
You see, Moses always had a temper. He was prone to anger. And one day, this temper landed him in hot water and ruined his life. When he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, his anger-driven thirst for justice got the better of him, and he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.
When his deed was discovered, he fled Egypt and disappeared into the dry, dusty desert off to the east. There he would live for 40 years, until God spoke to him in the burning bush.
As most of us know, God’s speaking to Moses was the starting point that led to Moses’ return to Egypt and his leading of the Israelites out of bondage.
But what about his meekness? What of his humility?
Later on (in Numbers), we read:
“Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth. (Numbers 12:3)”
The language of this passage should blow us away. Moses is described as being meeker than anyone else who lived. He was meeker than children, meeker than the blind, meeker than those who were outcast and had leprosy. Wow!
But was Moses a weak man? Was he harmless?
Think back to his earlier life. When he killed the Egyptian, he committed murder. Was this morally right? No. But naturally weak and passive people don’t murder others. Moses was fiery. He had a temper and he had a sense of justice.
Then, think about what Moses was being used by God to do. Can a weak, vacillating, passive person lead a group of two million human beings out of the clutches of a powerful nation? Moses was effectively the leader of a nation. He was the point of contact between the Almighty and the Israelites. He bore the weight of decision-making and administration upon his shoulders.
And yet he was “very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.”
Clearly, meekness is not weakness. Weak people do not lead millions. Weak people do not put the world on their shoulders.
But a meek person? Why, Moses was demonstrating something as the leader of Israel. He was demonstrating nothing less than power under control. When Moses was younger, his natural strength and hot-headedness ended up ruining his life. That was power out of control. Yet in his older age, he was using his strength to bring millions out of slavery and into the Promised Land.
That was power under control.
In other words, meekness.
Jesus: The Definition of Meekness
If Moses is a shining example of what it means to be meek, Jesus Christ is the living embodiment of it.
Think about it: Jesus, who is fully God, submits Himself to the will of the Father and becomes a human being. There He was – an immortal, all-knowing, all-powerful God – taking on the form of a limited human being.
Until He was born into this world, Jesus had probably never slept. He had never been cold or hot or hungry or thirsty. He had always been able to do whatever He wanted, whenever He wanted. Such is the nature of omnipotence.
But Jesus became a person. And not just any person, but the only person who ever lived a perfect and sinless life. Even when He was arrested and carted off to His eventual death, He said,
“Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” (Matthew 26:52-54)
Right here, we see Jesus’ radical obedience and commitment to His Father. We see His radical meekness. What Jesus is saying, in essence, is this:
You know who I am. I could literally call down ten thousand armed, invincible warriors from Heaven. They could destroy Rome, they could destroy the Pharisees, they could conquer the entire world on my behalf. All I would need to do is say the word. But I must submit my power to the will of God, because that is my purpose and my duty here.
From Jesus’ example in Matthew 26, we can gather two main things about what it means to be meek:
- Meekness is not weakness – it’s immense strength under great control
- Meekness is submission to a higher authority: namely, God Himself.
Jesus, our example in everything, serves as the best template for meekness we will ever see.
Meek is not Weak – How do we Live This Out?
I’d like to end this discussion by giving some practical tips to living out our meekness. You see, for far too long, many of us have been taught that meekness is just a highfalutin form of weakness. Meekness is about being quiet even when you want to speak, refraining from action when you want to do something, and refusing to take a stand or “pick sides.”
But what does real meekness look like?
Real meekness looks like Moses and Jesus. It looks like radical obedience to a higher calling. It is not the absence of strength – rather, meekness requires strength!
Think about that.
If meekness is “power under control,” then you can’t be meek without being strong. Those who fancy themselves as “meek,” but in reality are living their lives in fear and passivity, are not truly “meek.” They’re missing the calling.
For those who tend to be overly passive, who tend to struggle with taking action (and have justified this by claiming to be “meek”), the solution is this: develop your God-given strength! God is not opposed to being bold and powerful; He’s all for it.
What do you think it takes to win souls to Christ?
What does it take to lead a family? To lead kids?
What does it take to follow Christ even when others may exclude us, hate us, or persecute us?
What does it take to leave a generational legacy?
It takes God-given strength. It takes a great deal of power, power which is refined and brought under the yoke of Godliness.
It takes meekness.
Indeed, those struggling with inaction, passivity, or fear can start their journey to becoming meek by nurturing their God-given strength. Granted, this is not strength used for selfish or overbearing reasons. You should not make the mistake of transforming into a difficult person.
Rather, seek to develop a sturdy inner confidence which is anchored in Christ and used for His purposes.
For those on the opposite end of the scale who struggle with being too powerful, too hot-headed, or too overbearing, the main solution is this: bring yourself consciously and deliberately under God’s authority. Scripture tells us to take “every thought captive” and make it “obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). In the same way, we ought to take every action and every word captive.
What do you think it takes to be a good friend to to others?
What does it take to build trust and rapport?
What does it take to be a good servant of the Lord?
It takes meekness – power under control. A dominating person tends to drive others off, frustrate their family, and burn much-needed bridges. If they take it too far, an overbearing person might even create division and bitterness that will last beyond their lifespan. Far too many families deal with generational brokenness because someone three or four generations back decided to have things “their way.”
Whether you tend to be overbearing or underwhelming, whether you tend to be a control freak or a passivity fanatic, remember this: you are supposed to be strong, and that strength is supposed to be used for God’s purposes. Not your purposes, His purposes.
God wants us to develop meekness. For some, that means developing strength. For others, it means ‘toning it back’ a little bit. For everyone, it means taking the strength they do have and submitting it to the will of God. That means acting in love. It means seeking the best for others and for the Kingdom of God. It means focusing on that which is not yourself, because both passive people and overbearing people tend to have an unhealthy focus on themselves.
Ultimately, meekness means seeking to be more like Jesus Christ. No matter who you are or what stage of life you’re in, I encourage you to start pursuing the power under control that God wants all of us to have.
God bless.
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