Gal 5:22-23 Col 3:12 The virtues (and the healthy emotions that attend them as gifts of the Holy Spirit) are habits of thought and action that are courageous and righteous, but tempered by the same grace that gives them in proper measure and arrangement. Meekness gives faith a quality of humility and integrity that allows us to bear the difficulties of a life of faith in a way that is absent bitterness and rancor (even the subtlest forms that often go unrecognized in very good people as corrosive resentments). The Christian virtues (or what people mean when the say the mindfulness and habits of real Christians, are an odd and delicate balance of emotions and actions that seem peculiar to others and sometimes counterintuitive--even transgressive and doctrinally offensive to many--but always, always faithful to the will of the God. Meekness is not weakness but that virtue, that strength that makes one appear weak because of the refusal to act or lash out or fight or correct because God has not spoken or directed one to do so. It refuses to stand in judgement, to shame, to abuse in the name of correction. it rejects revenge and harshness, silence and poutyness, pettiness as repayment for hurt. Meekness is a key tempering ingredient of real faith and indispensable to the praxis of love that is the outward goal of our faith. It is about our attitude toward ourselves and our relationship with God it is a companion to, a compliment to humility which is properly rooted in our attitude toward others as absolutely of equal worth. It is our attitude toward God who is in charge of all our gifts and powers. It is an attitude toward ourself in that relationship, completely at Gods service and honored to do so. It is formidable, powerful and formative in this way. Meekness is an opposite of weakness. It is a key virtue in forgiveness and graciousness toward those who have hurt us and who have fallen. It is devastating to the enemies of God who need our rage to amplify and compliment their own, but without it (that is without our rage and idolatrous judgementalism, are either converted or self destructive. The hope of the meek is that all be converted. The resolve of the meek is the blessed assurance of the inheritance of the earth by those who will love in ALL seasons.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Dec 2013 15:40:09 +0000
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