1 - Introduction - Living like a real Christian 4 - Blessed are the meek | Page 3

Monday Reading: Matthew 5 v 5 / Isaiah 6 v 1 – 8 We move on in our studies on the Beatitudes to discuss Matthew 5 v 5, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth”. At the outset on the study of meekness might I suggest to you that meekness is more a journey than it is a destination. There are a number of characteristics that “meek” people evidence. The problem in the context of the world today is that meekness is often perceived as weakness. This is far from true. Everything that we have studied in the Beatitudes so far speaks of the foundational impact of humility. Meekness is primarily the evidence of a humble person. This week, I would like to share with you some of the evidences of humility remembering that we don’t get meekness by trying to get more “meek”, but we acquire meekness thorough an emptying of ourselves and receiving the subsequent filling of God. Meekness is the fruit; humility is the root. Evidence ONE: Meek people take their eyes off themselves and put them on God. There is nothing more life changing and impactful long-term than having the correct vision of God. In its essence it is life changing and can lead an individual from a life of “self-help” Christianity to a life of “supernatural” Christianity. It was this experience that Isaiah had in our reading today (Isaiah 6). Isaiah was already a legitimate prophet of God, but it was only upon him seeing God for who God is that his life was totally changed. When you are in the presence of God as Isaiah was on that day, you cannot help but become totally consumed and in awe of the God that you see. As He gets bigger, you get smaller. As His glory is accentuated, your sinfulness is highlighted. As His pre-eminence grows, your problems look so much less. I am convinced that for many of us our vision of God is far too small. Too many of us have a God who we put in a box only to bring Him out on special occasions, talk about Him for a while, and then put Him back in the box again. Too many of us have a God who with our finite minds we try to comprehend. As much as I applaud the effort to understand God better, we as humans do not have the capacity within us to understand Him in His completeness – it’s a capacity thing. A flea does not have the capacity to understand how your cell phone works; it is exactly the same with us. How on earth do we fully comprehend a God so great that He is able to speak the universe into being; create the cosmos out of nothing? A God who speaks and