“Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5
Pastor Colin Smith explains the promise and instruction found in one of the most misunderstood beatitudes.
“The word meek in English sounds rather like the word weak in English and there’s not anything particularly attractive about that.”
We often pass over this beatitude because of this misinterpretation. However, weakness is actually nothing close to meekness.
“Meekness is precisely the opposite of weakness. The way I describe it is that meekness is strength brought under control.”
Pastor Colin likes to use the illustration of a wild horse to help us understand.
“If you think about a wild horse and it’s out that in the field and it’s kicking and thrashing around, its strength has not been brought under control. It’s strong, but its strength is not aligned. It’s out in the field. It’s not in a position to win a race because the strength has not yet been aligned. But when the horse gets used to the hand its strength is aligned, and it’s brought under control and then the horse is able to go someplace.”
So what does meekness really look like?
“The heart of meekness is really that the various impulses of the mind and the heart that can thrash around in all different directions are brought into submission to the Lordship of Christ. That’s the heart of what meekness actually is.”
Meekness begins with a repentant heart.
“We begin with seeing our own need, we come empty handed, and poor in spirit. That gets me to a place where I see my need of repentance. Looking deeper into my own life I see that I’ve gone astray and I need to submit my life more fully to the lordship of Christ, to be under his mastery because otherwise I’m going to end up moving out in all kinds of confused directions myself.”
Colin S. Smith is a United States evangelical pastor and author. Smith is currently the Senior Pastor of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in Illinois, where he has been since 1996. The Orchard Evangelical Free Church has three campus locations: Arlington Heights, Barrington, and Itasca.
Key Scripture: Matthew 5:1-12
Featured Songs: We Won’t be Shaken – Building 429; Every Giant Will Fall – Rend Collective; The Lion and the Lamb – Leeland
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