“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5
In 1965, cartoonist Howie Schneider, created a comic strip called Eek and Meek which featured two mice who were about as different as their names suggest. Eek was an alcoholic, hard-driving, assertive mouse that was always depicted with a bit of beard stubble. Meek, on the other hand, was a mild-mannered sort who was always being rejected and sort of pushed aside – mousy you might call it. So Meek was hardly the kind of mouse/person you wanted to be.
That’s how we usually think of the word meek. While we don’t want to become the arrogant, pushy type, we don’t want to be the run-over type either. Because in our advance-your-own-cause, push-to-the-front-of-the-line society, being meek will simply leave you behind eating the dust of the more aggressive.
So we aren’t sure what to make of Jesus’ words in the third beatitude. “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” From our vantage point, we haven’t seen meek people inheriting anything but grief.
Surely then Jesus must be wrong. Or could it be that we’ve misunderstood what meek means and what kind of earth they inherit? One thing’s for sure, Jesus said that such persons live in the middle of God’s blessing. So as shocking as it seems, it’s the meek who are able to live extraordinary lives. Here’s why.
People who live extraordinary lives are not self-absorbed. Generally speaking, the opposite of being meek is to be proud. One thing we know about prideful people is how self-absorbed they are. They view themselves as the center of all things, and they have absolutely no sense of their limitations or weaknesses. Thus they believe they’re able to control their own destiny by the sheer power of their will. And nobody, not even God is going to convince them that they have any needs that they themselves cannot meet.
Such was the attitude of Timothy McVeigh, who was executed on June of 2001 for his role in the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City which killed 168 people. On the day of his death, the unrepentant McVeigh refused to make a final oral statement, but instead left behind a handwritten copy of a poem by William Henley called Invictus. The poem was written to express Henley’s willingness to endure suffering from a life long illness. But from McVeigh’s perspective it changed into a message of prideful defiance of society and self-absorbed arrogance.
Through the poem McVeigh stated that although circumstances had bloodied his head, it was still unbowed. He looked at the looming horror of death but insisted that he was unafraid. And then he concluded his declaration of invincibility by shared the final lines of the poem:
“It matters not how straight the gate How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”
Sobering isn’t it? And here’s the danger. Though we may never reach the same level of defiance as McVeigh did, we can nevertheless become infected with a self-absorbed pride in more subtle ways. It’s one thing to believe in ourselves and our abilities to do certain things. In fact, we need that kind of confidence to keep us from acting like helpless victims. But it’s another thing altogether when we allow it to turn us into people who are full of ourselves and who don’t need help from anybody including God.
The meek on the other hand see it quite differently. In the face of a You Can Do It world, they realize they can’t do it all and that only God can truly address their deepest needs. They have claimed their poverty of spirit, have grieved over it and in humility have turned to God. Thus they are increasingly free from being preoccupied with themselves. That’s what enables them to do another thing that people who live in the midst of God’s blessing do.
People who live extraordinary lives face their weaknesses and seek to grow through them. This is another thing that separates the ordinary from the extraordinary. Those who live ordinary lives may actually admit their weaknesses, but they often have no intention of doing anything about them. However, those who live extraordinary lives take an entirely different approach. Because they walk the pathway of genuine humility, they not only face the poverty of their spirit, but they also seek to grow through it.
That’s what happened to Matthew Turner, former chief editor of a highly successful Christian music magazine. By his own admission he was a very self-centered person who used the power of his position in a dominating, controlling fashion. But when he lost his job, he had a choice to make. He could blame everyone and everything around him for his situation, or in humility he could begin to face some very difficult truths about himself. Thankfully, he choose the pathway of genuine humility.
The focal point of his change came one night as he lay in bed unable to sleep. In a very vulnerable moment he prayed out loud, “What do you want from me, Jesus? What do you really want?” The words that came back to him weren’t audible. But they were powerful and stinging none the less. “I want you to be a man who is not consumed with fame, wealth, or security. I can use a man like that.” The words were hard to take in. So again he prayed, “You know how hard that is for me. You know that kind of life goes against my personality.”
Once more the unspoken words came, “You won’t ever be that man unless you begin to take on the qualities of my personality, Matthew. You use your personality as a crutch, as a reason not to really follow me. You only dance around with me. But you still haven’t truly decided to walk with me.”
In his heart he knew that was the truth as the inner words from God continued, “I keep telling you and reminding you of all the things that truly bless me. But you resist them. You hold back, because you like your pride. You like thinking about yourself. You’re afraid that following me fully would make you unpopular or make you appear to be a conformist. You know I’m not impressed with the world’s opinions. But you are. I see it in your heart.”
After that, he silently confessed that Jesus was right – that his problem really was a pride issue and until that was rooted out of his life, he would never be able to live in the middle of God’s blessing.
Most of us can relate with Matthew at some level. It’s easy to get caught up in image management. Likewise, it’s challenging to face our self-absorbed ways that block our ability to live in God’s blessing. Those who live extraordinary lives face that challenge and take the pathway of genuine humility. They choose that pathway over and over again each time they encounter their old prideful selves. In the process they experience the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus.
People who live extraordinary lives let go of the world as it is in order to inherit the world as it can be. Jesus’ promise that the meek will inherit the earth tracks back to the 37th Psalm. There the Psalmist expresses the woes of God’s people who are under oppression from foreign foes that appear to be in complete control. But he encourages them not to fret over their evil doing. For in due season, the wicked will be no more, but the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.
The Psalmist was referring to the land of promise which in God’s mind was always something more than a particular piece of middle-eastern real estate. It had to do with a state of being in the soul where God was allowed to reign. That’s what the meek do, and that’s why their souls are at rest. This is the kind of earth those who walk the pathway of genuine humility inherit – not the earth as it is, but as it was designed to be with God in center. And what a difference that makes.
Consider the life of Paris Hilton. As an heiress of multiple millions of dollars, she has literally inherited this earth from her family. Yet the stories of her DUI conviction, problems with cocaine, drunken parties, sexual promiscuity, material extravagance and more persist. Sadly, it seems that as one who supposedly possesses the world, she’s more possessed by it instead.
In contrast, I think of the story of Korean gymnast Kim So Young. At age 16, she was a rising star and a gold medal hopeful in the 1988 Olympics. She was on the fast track to fame and fortune. But then tragedy struck. During a routine training exercise on the uneven parallel bars, she fell head first on the mat and broke her neck.
The doctors confirmed that she was now paralyzed and would likely be a quadriplegic for the rest of her life. Adjusting to that reality was hard for Kim. Her mother, a devout Christian, encouraged her while her Buddhist father ridiculed her faith and once even tore up her Bible right in front of her.
At the lowest point, her boyfriend abandoned her, and her father died leaving her wishing that she had died as well. But bit by bit she began to face her situation and determined that instead of viewing herself as a victim of her circumstances, instead of being self-absorbed, she would instead use it as an opportunity for service.
Today Kim, who is wheelchair bound, seeks to help others in need as a trained Christian counselor. Her special burden is for the people who live in neighboring North Korea who she describes as being “physically and spiritually imprisoned, confined in their land without hope or freedom.”
Referring to herself as nothing more than a “humble servant,” she said this, “I don’t know how God will use me, but I’m just excited to see his plan for me, and I want to be ready when he calls me.”
That’s the voice of one who is in the process of inheriting the earth – the kind of earth that’s closer to what God has always intended for it to be. And along the way, she will be living an extraordinary life as she walks the pathway of genuine humility.
So what kind of earth are you hoping to inherit – the Paris Hilton earth or the Kim So Young earth? If you’re wanting to inherit the rich kind of life that Miss Young has found, then you know the pathway you must walk – a pathway that’s no longer self-absorbed and instead faces weaknesses and seeks to grow through them. It’s the pathway of genuine humility. And if you’ll continue to walk it, you too will find yourself in the middle of God’s blessing as you live an extraordinary life.