DON’T MISINTERPRET MY MEEKNESS FOR WEAKNESS!
During His earthly ministry, Jesus demonstrates through God’s love how we are able to inherit His blessings and be filled with His presence, so that we never hunger nor thirst again.
This is only offered to those that quietly present and submit themselves to God’s will, and in turn, show God’s kindness and gentleness to all men. Once you are filled with the Spirit, it is at that point that you are able to operate in the ‘gifts of the Spirit’ and its corresponding fruit of the recreated spirit.
The Apostle Paul expressed this theme, vividly in Galatians 5:22
-23, when he said, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” He’s talking about the fruit of the recreated spirit. For example, the gift of the spirit – Tongues; the corresponding fruit of the recreated spirit – meekness. A very meek person is able to be used by God to give a message in languages to various parts of the world, in a general assembly of the Body of Christ.
[Remember] The Lord does not want His servant’s meekness to be misinterpreted for weakness. In Acts 16:35-37, the missionaries for Christ were beaten and thrown in jail for preaching this gospel with a spirit of meekness. But they stood their ground for what was right. [“The next morning the city officials sent the police to tell the jailer, “Let those men go!” So the jailer told Paul, “The city officials have said you and Silas are free to leave. Go in peace.” But Paul replied, “They have publicly beaten us without a trial and put us in prison—and we are Roman citizens. So now they want us to leave secretly? Certainly not! Let them come themselves to release us!”]
Jesus drove out the money changers in the temple with righteous indignation, but He did it in love. Every human being that hungers and thirsts after righteousness can be filled. The only way is for the person to turn away from self-righteousness and follow after the things of God with their whole heart. This brings about salvation and deliverance. When the person seeks God with all their heart, soul and mind, they shall be filled with God’s comfort – no more longing to be filled.
One great example is the ‘prodigal son’ who longed to return home. We find this story in Luke’s Gospel 15:11-32, “To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”
So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’
But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, and he asked one of the servants what was going on. ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!”
Noticed what happened to the son: He “came to himself,” repented, and then returned home where he was greeted by his father with open arms. This is symbolic of how our heavenly Father treats us, when we return back to doing His will and not our own.
Jesus discusses with His disciples how the meek shall inherit the earth, how we as Christians are not to permit the world to view our meekness as weakness, and how anyone that hungers and thirsts after righteousness shall be filled. Every day, we should seek to stay as humble as we possibly can, to be placed by God in a position
to bless those around us; because we know the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.