Jesus continues His values of happiness with, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5, NKJV). If we thought Jesus was being counter-cultural in the Beatitudes up to this point, He has hit a Grand Slam Home Run with this one! Meek? Are you kidding me? Who in his right mind wants to be called meek? It’s interesting that this is the only character quality that Jesus gave for Himself, (see Matthew 11:29) and some translations replace it with the word, “gentle.” I have a different take on the word and would translate it as, “renouncing all rights.”
Happy is the person who has renounced all his/her rights. No rights. I mean rights to anything—a nice home, a nice family, a nice job. Renouncing all rights means to turn our back on the inferiority of our own American Dream and pursue the greater vision of a Kingdom Destiny. Renouncing our dreams for His destiny.
The meek are not the weak. They are the strong in that they combine the qualities of certainty in God and sympathy for others. They combine intimacy with God, (a certain kind of self-certainty) and regard for the needs of others, (others-regarding). These are the two basic urges of all humankind. They no longer regard their own rights as sacrosanct and rejoice in being in the Kingdom of God.
Yours for a Kingdom Revolution,
Steve
Steve Holt M.A., D.D.
My newest book, Worshipper Warrior, can be found at www.steveholtonline.org
and www.amazon.com
