Blessed are the meek
“He opened His mouth, …saying, …Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matt. 5:2,5).
If we have known the poverty of soul that Jesus speaks of and accepted His promise of heaven, and if we have mourned for the lack of relationship with a God of love and we have gone to Him and known the comfort of His Spirit, then He makes us meek.
No one can escape the experience of trusting in the acceptance from a God of love without having pride laid in the dust and a new man raised up in his place, in complete humility and renunciation of the natural born tendency of rebellion. Self has been set aside; there is no more strife with men. Self can now joy in being last; peace pervades the heart and mind. Self-seeking no longer plagues the will because love to God has satisfied the deepest needs of the soul. In one touch, through one convicting view of the loving righteousness of Christ, the Holy Spirit has done for us what was impossible for us to do for ourselves. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2Cor. 5:17).
“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.” (Rom. 6:3-7).
This supernatural condition of the death and burial of our pride comes only through trusting in the grace of God. Utter trust, desperate need, clinging to Him in the full knowledge of our hopeless condition. Only a thorough heart-searching leads to a sound conversion. Peter having disowned his beloved Master and hearing the cock crow three times, fled from life, wanting to die. And die he did, grinding his face into the dew-moistened dirt of Gethsemane and begging God to change him, once and for all.
The only reason Peter didn’t go out and hang himself like Judas had done was because he knew Jesus loved him; albeit his response had been marginal. Now, with near blind desperation, he reached out and made connection with God, and together they cast out the devil of pride from Peter and forged resolution such as he had never known. For the first time, he learned how to hate sin with a perfect hatred. That night, the once-proud Peter became a new creature in Christ, the new man for which Jesus had been looking for 3 years.
Peter had wrestled with God like Jacob had, and God laid His ax to the main root of Peter’s pride like He had with Jacob when He touched Jacob’s hip and knocked it out of joint. And after spending a few more weeks with his dearest friend Jesus, humble and listening intently now, Peter stood forth as the true leader of the church. When he spoke at Pentecost, he did so with boldness; and when he and John later spoke to the Sanhedrin with such fearless conviction, the people “marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13).
No one will have the privilege to walk on the earth made new who haven’t known the trauma involved in the second birth. The invitation of love that leads to the removal of pride is the rite of passage to a life of meekness that inherits wonderful blessings here and now, and also to a life in the great hereafter where we will walk with Jesus in white because He says we are worthy.
If we have known the poverty of soul that Jesus speaks of and accepted His promise of heaven, and if we have mourned for the lack of relationship with a God of love and we have gone to Him and known the comfort of His Spirit, then He makes us meek.
No one can escape the experience of trusting in the acceptance from a God of love without having pride laid in the dust and a new man raised up in his place, in complete humility and renunciation of the natural born tendency of rebellion. Self has been set aside; there is no more strife with men. Self can now joy in being last; peace pervades the heart and mind. Self-seeking no longer plagues the will because love to God has satisfied the deepest needs of the soul. In one touch, through one convicting view of the loving righteousness of Christ, the Holy Spirit has done for us what was impossible for us to do for ourselves. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2Cor. 5:17).
“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.” (Rom. 6:3-7).
This supernatural condition of the death and burial of our pride comes only through trusting in the grace of God. Utter trust, desperate need, clinging to Him in the full knowledge of our hopeless condition. Only a thorough heart-searching leads to a sound conversion. Peter having disowned his beloved Master and hearing the cock crow three times, fled from life, wanting to die. And die he did, grinding his face into the dew-moistened dirt of Gethsemane and begging God to change him, once and for all.
The only reason Peter didn’t go out and hang himself like Judas had done was because he knew Jesus loved him; albeit his response had been marginal. Now, with near blind desperation, he reached out and made connection with God, and together they cast out the devil of pride from Peter and forged resolution such as he had never known. For the first time, he learned how to hate sin with a perfect hatred. That night, the once-proud Peter became a new creature in Christ, the new man for which Jesus had been looking for 3 years.
Peter had wrestled with God like Jacob had, and God laid His ax to the main root of Peter’s pride like He had with Jacob when He touched Jacob’s hip and knocked it out of joint. And after spending a few more weeks with his dearest friend Jesus, humble and listening intently now, Peter stood forth as the true leader of the church. When he spoke at Pentecost, he did so with boldness; and when he and John later spoke to the Sanhedrin with such fearless conviction, the people “marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13).
No one will have the privilege to walk on the earth made new who haven’t known the trauma involved in the second birth. The invitation of love that leads to the removal of pride is the rite of passage to a life of meekness that inherits wonderful blessings here and now, and also to a life in the great hereafter where we will walk with Jesus in white because He says we are worthy.
posted by David | 8:52 PM
3 Comments:
Is Gethsemane a proving ground for the meek? I think so.
To stand in God's power and strength, not our own, and withstand whatever is hurled at us doesn't come by accident.
The decision is first made in Gethsemane in heartfelt prayer.
Amen, dear sister. Thank you.
a wonderful comment
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