storiesofvalue

Pursue the joyful path of meekness.  In the process, don’t lose the drive God has put in you to use your gifts and your time on earth to the fullest.  At times, the gentle spirit of the Lord, who loves us as children will compel you to treat others with His tenderness.  But there will also be moments when your submission to His will leads you to take a bold stand.

If you do these things, you will inherit the earth.  What is an earthly inheritance anyway but a defined possession marked by human paperwork.  When we die the things we have accumulated no more belong to us than they did before we made our entrance.  We still respect legal ownership because it is a part of the human system God has ordained for order and civility.  Otherwise, His command not to steal from others would make very little sense.  Yet, God has, does and will own everything.  Our titles, deeds and account numbers are temporary tools to account for those things over which He has made us stewards.

The meek believer recognizes this important relationship and seeks to understand and live within the will of God.  Success is discovering this will and finding a way to pursue it each day and in every way.  This is no higher ambition.

When we seek God’s will above all else, and humbly submit to His authority, we are able to participate in His inheritance.  In matters of salvation we are co-heirs with His Son Jesus because we have put our souls in His hands.  And in regards to the earth and our temporal existence, we have transcended the bounds of every geopolitical map and claimed citizenship in a greater kingdom.  The meek don’t withdraw from the world with its challenges and conflict.  Instead, they engage the world with the truth that our true selves can only be discovered when we live for our Creator.

Perhaps you have already considered the people in your life you hold to be successful in light of these considerations.  It is hard to judge whether or not others are happy in their existence, and it is unfair to assume they are unhappy because they do not appear to give God glory for their blessings.  But we must keep the definition of what it means to be truly blessed in view.

All humans are blessed.  In fact, the Bible tells us God causes the sun to shine and the rain to fall on the just and unjust (Matthew 5:45).  Beyond this general blessing, many people find happiness in worldly success, and even acquire a level of peace and contentment, having achieved their personal goals and dreams.  Yet, the biblical idea of the blessed life involves one other critical marker: that of living to please God.  Believers don’t just receive God’s blessings, or revel in how well they have parlayed them into earthly success.  They also want to know their lives have been lived for a divine and eternal purpose, and they know this is only possible when they have sought the will of God and attempted to live for Him in everything.

Some say, “Remember, Jesus wasn’t meek all the time.  There was that day when He cleansed the temple.”  Indeed, this was a dramatic event.  The animals scurried, tables and coinage went flying and money-changers ran from their posts.  Yet, I contend Jesus may have been more meek at this moment in His ministry than any other.  Allow me to explain.

I have become convinced the spirit of meekness God desires is our complete surrender of ambition to His purposes.  Realize, I am not suggesting we discard our ambition, but rather that we become intentional about living by God’s agenda.  Let’s return to Jesus’ encounter with the money changers as recorded in John 3.  We read, “To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”  His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” (John 2:16-19)

The reason Jesus cleansed the temple was because the spiritual leaders of the day had turned His Father’s house into a venue for personal gain.  Yes, His reaction was drastic, and He was certainly angry.  But the principle Jesus was upholding was one of meekness.  God gave humans ambition to help them grow His kingdom, not their own.  In addition, when He was asked for a sign to justify His authority he referenced His future death and resurrection.  That’s right!  Instead of swirling His whip over his head and shouting, “I’ve got your sign right here!” Jesus pointed to the cross.  I feel certain the money-changers were baffled by His words, but in hindsight we see things with perfect clarity.  Jesus was consumed with His Father’s will.  There is no better definition of meekness.

Success and the Meek

One of the best ways to clarify our understanding of any character trait is to examine how it was revealed in the ministry of Jesus.  Few people would refute the fact Jesus succeeded in accomplishing everything He came to do, yet He did it with meekness.  On the cross He was beaten down, ridiculed and abandoned, but completely in control.  He thirsted, but had enough strength to declare victory over sin with three simple words: “It is finished.”

It is worth noting, while Jesus’ main goal was not to be famous, He was wildly successful as a celebrity.  People followed Him everywhere and it was not uncommon to find Him trying to pull away from the crowds for a personal time of prayer or a teaching session with His disciples.  It is easy to understand why others wanted to be with Him when we consider His ability to heal and connect truth to the human heart in a way that amazed even His enemies.

But He could have done more.  I mean, Jesus could have used His power and position to acquire most anything He wanted.  It would have been nothing for Him to crush the mighty Roman bureaucracy and ascend Caesar’s throne.  He could have eliminated His foes and elevated His friends.  Tradition tells us Mary later lived in a home on the outskirts of Ephesus where she was cared for by John.  Jesus could have easily kicked Herod out of his palace and asked the disciples to fix the place up for His mother.  He could have called it “Mary Manor.”

But He didn’t.  He didn’t do any of this because His mission was fundamentally infused with meekness.   He, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!”  (Philippians 2:6-8)

More than by Default

Along with misperceptions associated with meekness is a rather fatalistic interpretation of Jesus’ promised reward, “the meek will inherit the earth.”  How can this be?

There is a popular notion the earth will be inherited by those who merely stay out of the fray.  One only needs to observe history to understand this principle.  Civilizations come and go, and the winds of war continue to blow over the same parcels of land.  In time, students of history unearth the past and display artifacts in museums where children come to learn nothing man-made lasts forever.  It can be assumed, therefore, one way believers might inherit the earth is to hide under a rock while the rest of society self-destructs, then emerge to claim what remains.

Nature teaches us a similar lesson.  I am not a meticulous lawn-keeper, but I do take pride in my property.  Every year I haul in dirt, plant seed and fertilize.  I cut and trim my grass in a timely manner and manicure other plants in my yard so they appear orderly to the eye.  But for all of my hard work, I am aware the results are only temporary.  If left unchecked everything I have attempted to maintain over a period of eighteen years would quickly be undermined by weeds, bugs and drought.

So is this what Jesus means?  If we just hang on long enough and make sure we aren’t in the wrong place at the wrong time, will the earth be handed to us on a silver platter?  This scenario seems very plausible to anyone in my generation who saw the first run of “Planet of the Apes” during the cold war era.  Who can forget the final scene where Charlton Heston grieves over the insanity of the human race in the shadow of the ruins of the Statue of Liberty?

I am not refuting the fact that a literal doomsday would leave many of the disenfranchised cultures (probably not apes) of the earth to pick up the pieces.  Still, this is not the kind or means of inheritance Jesus has promised to the meek.

The second sin of apathy strips Christians of the healthy drives God put in them for the purpose of accomplishing His mission.  It is hard to imagine the Apostle Paul shrinking into a corner somewhere to live out his faith in obscurity.  Instead, we find him pressing on and straining to fully grasp Jesus’ calling in his life (Philippians 3:12-13), fighting the good fight and finishing the race (2 Timothy 4:7).

There are those who have a hard time reconciling a competitive spirit with Jesus’ command to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44), or Paul’s instructions to live in harmony with others (Romans 12:16).  Yet, there are many things believers should contend with in our world, and it is a grave mistake to think a meek spirit removes us from the battle.  This is why we are told to put on the whole armor of God to stand against the devil’s schemes (Ephesians 6:11).

Indeed, meekness is not weakness, and in fact may be the exact opposite.  While I believe we have the right to fight back when we are threatened, I also know it takes just as much courage to resist a fight.  Jesus allowed Himself to be beaten and crucified, but we can hardly call His actions passive.

I encourage you not to view selfish ambition and apathy as having too little meekness or too much meekness.  Meekness is not a happy balance between two extremes.  It is defined by something else, or more accurately “someone” else.  There is a way that leads to success that brings true and lasting joy.

Misperceptions of Success and the Christian

The two aforementioned sins of selfish ambition and apathy have a clear foothold in the modern Christian walk.  These not only lead to all kinds of mischief in our personal lives, but also keep us from seeing kingdom success through God’s eyes.

The first, selfish ambition, takes many forms.  Spiritual shepherds who take advantage of the poor by promising health and material wealth, those who use kingdom resources for personal business schemes, and those who view other thriving ministries as the “competition” are only a few examples.  Astonishingly, God can use selfish behavior in His kingdom for His glory, as we see in the example of those who wished to cause the Apostle Paul distress in his imprisonment (Philippians 1:17).  Yet, the human toll wrought by demons such as poor ethics and jealousies in the name of Christ is significant.

Perhaps you have been exposed to selfish ambition in ministry and were unaware.  This is because Satan sometimes uses our language and practice against us in an effort to cloud our perception.  In the Old Testament, when Absalom campaigned to take his father David’s kingdom away, he camped out at the city gate and made himself the judge and provider for those who passed through.  He used his position to exploit his father’s weaknesses and establish himself as a confidant.  When people tried to show respect to Absalom by bowing, he would reach out, hold them and kiss them.  In this way, the Bible says Absalom “stole the heart” of Israel.  As if this manipulative plan wasn’t bad enough, he hatched the final stage of his strategy by telling his father he needed to go to Hebron to make a vow to the Lord.  Absalom was one of the original “god-talkers”, spiritualizing his actions to convince others his wisdom was from God.

I have heard people use the term “kingdom view” to cast guilt in the direction of those who don’t wish to participate in their plans or cooperate with their wishes.  A true kingdom view, as we will discover later, is certainly the place to begin as we function together for God’s glory.  But when the kingdom view is nothing more than a personal vision rooted in an ambitious self-promoting plot, then it has become something much different from the kingdom Christ wants to grow through us.

Defining Success

My great-uncle always seemed happy and he had a way of making me feel important.  During the summer months my grandfather and I fished at his pond, and if he was home we would talk first.  The last time I saw him he said I should come back some day to go horse riding.  But the horse ride never came.

I was unaware my uncle had been battling depression, and I remember how strange the news seemed since I thought depressed people sat by themselves in dark rooms with frowns on their faces.  My uncle never frowned, and was always upbeat.  But something was terribly wrong, and not long after the invitation to go horse riding, he took his own life.

My grandfather had been at my great-uncle’s house the night before his death, trying desperately to speak hope into his life.  My great-uncle said, “You just don’t understand.”  We didn’t.  As I would discover later, sometimes people carry unbelievably heavy burdens through life.  Whether or not the burdens are anchored in reality is irrelevant.

One of the burdens I encounter frequently in my conversations with others is a profound feeling of failure.  Most of us want to be successful, but chances are, we aren’t going to reach all of our goals all of the time.  How we define success, and how we interpret our circumstances will determine how we recover from our disappointments.  We will return to this thought in a moment.

There is another important subject that naturally intersects with success: that of human ambition.  Ambition is a part of our God-given composition.  It gives us the drive to get up in the morning and pursue purpose in our lives.  After sin entered the world, however, ambition went the way of other human characteristics as Satan exploited our sinful nature.  We developed selfish ambition, which leads us to use the gifts and opportunities God has given us for our own gain, at other’s expense.  On the flip side we embraced apathy, which is the sinful habit of wasting our gifts and opportunities by failing to use them for any meaningful purpose.  The first sin is a refusal to care about others and the second a failure to care about anything.

How do success and ambition relate to one another within the context of the beatitudes?  Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).  I am convinced the meek are those who seek a restored vision of ambition where success is measured by how well we use what God has given us for His glory.  When we grasp this principle, we experience a revolution in the way we establish and strive after goals in our lives.

Although we will be blessed when we mourn, there is no virtue in rushing headlong into sin or personal pain in order to experience the comfort of God.  We should obey the single word found in the Apostle Paul’s warning to Timothy regarding youthful lusts: “Flee” (2 Timothy 2:22).  In regards to trials, we must remember when Jesus was speaking about the future destruction of Jerusalem He said, “Then let those who are in Jerusalem flee to the mountains” (Matthew 24:16).

If you can run, run.  If you can avoid heartache and still maintain your integrity, then by all means do so.  Even Joseph and Mary protected Jesus from danger until He was old enough to care for Himself.

But when we fall, God is there.  When we hurt, He does not abandon us.  Not only is He there with us, but He offers us grace and peace, and for believers the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus gave His disciples this promise: “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say” (Luke 12:11-12).

This means there is joy in the process of mourning.  I have personally experienced the incredible comfort of God rushing into my spirit at a time when I was down to my last ounce of strength.  I have heard many metaphors used to describe this sensation, from the wind at our backs to the mighty crest of an ocean wave, but they all suggest the same thing: when we are spent God opens His storehouse of joy and does for us we can’t do for ourselves.

If you are hurting right now, I am so very sorry.  I hope your pain is short-lived and one day very soon you wake up to a glorious new dawn.  But until then, I am confident God will comfort you, and as a result you will feel blessed.  Yet, you must be willing to enter the process, which means your heart will be broken if it isn’t already.  I encourage you to embrace this rebirth of your spirit.  It is the pathway to joy unspeakable.

Comforting while Being Comforted

Do we have to be fully healed before we reach out to others?  Absolutely not!  Obviously, if we are bleeding profusely from open wounds we need to have our own needs taken care of first.  In the opening instructions of an airline flight the attendant always reminds parents to put their oxygen masks on first in the case of a sudden drop in cabin pressure.  They can’t help their children if they allow themselves to lose consciousness.

On the other hand, if we wait until all of our hurts are completely cured before we attempt to share God’s comfort, we might never be used.  There is a balance between healing and helping, but at some point we need to rise above our circumstances and re-engage in ministry.  When we do, we begin to reclaim God’s purpose in our lives, sometimes causing our own recovery to accelerate.  In nothing else, when we walk alongside other hurting people we remember we aren’t the only ones and it is easier to put our trials in perspective.

The first Christians had no choice but to comfort others, even as they were receiving God’s comfort in the midst of trouble.  One of the most amazing conversation stories in the New Testament occurred in Philippi where Paul and Silas had been imprisoned for their faith.  Even though both of them were beaten and chained, they found the strength to sing songs of praise.  As a result of their witness, and a providential earthquake, a prison guard found salvation (Acts 16:19-23).  In his second letter to the church at Corinth Paul wrote, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).  Notice, Paul says God’s comfort gives us the ability to comfort others “in all our troubles”; not after them.