Encouragements for our troubled times No. 68
COVID-19 Series | Date: 08 July 2021
The Elders and Deacons want to encourage the members and those who regularly meet with us through this weekly letter. If you have news which you would be happy to share with the fellowship or request for prayer, then please let us know.
A message from our Pastor
Matthew 5:5
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
Meekness is not a virtue that is encouraged in this world where pride is commended and everywhere recommended. We are constantly being told to be proud of ourselves and believe in self. We are to be proud of our achievements, our possessions, and our strengths. We are even encouraged to be proud of sin, our sinful abilities (i.e. how much alcohol we can drink), our sinful excesses (i.e. materialism, gluttony), and our sinful tastes (i.e. gay pride).
But the Lord says, O, the blessedness of the meek, they are truly blessed. This is a reminder to us that the Lord does not see as the world sees, nor value the things that this fallen world values. The Lord seeks holiness, purity, righteousness, love, peace, truth, honesty, grace, kindness, goodness, and everything else that is after His own heart. The Lord values meekness because He was meek and lowly; He said, “take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
The Lord values meekness, but what does it mean to be meek? It does not mean that sickly, grovelling false humility that is just for show. Nor that weak compliance that yields to everything and will not stand for anything. The Lord was not like this and does not expect His people to be so either. Meekness stems from humility. When we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, yielding to Him and submitting all to Him, then we know peace and tranquillity trusting and waiting upon Him; not seeking our own. It comes from not thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think but seeing ourselves as the Lord sees us. It means that we are gentle and lowly, like our Saviour, not seeking the praise of the world but seeking to be to the praise of His glory; like John the Baptist who said “He must increase, but I must decrease.” And when we are meek, we will think more highly of others than ourselves, and be gentle and forgiving.
O, the blessedness of the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Now, this is first a statement of fact. In this world, the meek have a calming influence that, in the long run, is valued greater than the influence of the proud and self-seeking. And, for themselves, the meek find great peace, joy and contentment in humbling themselves under the mighty hand of God and trusting in Him for the future. Therefore, the meek are truly those who inherit the best of this fallen world. But secondly, it is a promise of our future inheritance when we, the Lord’s people shall inherit the new heavens and earth where righteousness dwells. This world is not our home; we have a new home, in Heaven; an inheritance that is guaranteed to us and we, the meek, shall all inherit it.