Catching a few glimpses of the Australian Open on television this week has taken me back to the time I was an umpire at the AO for four years. That was a special time. Standing on the court umpiring you get to see all sorts of players in action. Those who are in the twilight of their career, those who are just breaking through, those who are incredibly gifted and those who were ranked as the top 1 or 2 players in the world. Each of them had their own style and different temperaments. Some were loud and aggressive. Others believed their racquets should do all the talking. It was fascinating to watch all these different personalities play!
The famous Welsh Greek Scholar and Bible teacher, R.B. Jones was noted for commenting on the Biblical attitude ‘Blessed are the meek’, that it could be paraphrased as ‘Blessed are those who remain strong, calm and assured in the midst of life’s most difficult circumstances.’ Think on this for a moment! What is real strength? Who is stronger? The person who gives in to their rage and becomes physically or verbally abusive or the one who remains calm, patient and composed? The meek are those who know how to harness their life wisely: their strength lies in self-control and discipline. They remain gentle in their relationships with others as it was said of the Lord Jesus, ‘He will not break a bruised reed or snuff out the smoldering wick of faith.’
The truly meek are those who are also emotionally stable. They have their ups and downs, like this last week, but they don’t allow their down times to distract them from their goals or purpose. Meek people are people who are particularly patient and teachable! They don’t suffer from a know-it-all attitude and allow room in their lives for growth. They listen and are not defensive as they are never on an ego trip. They do not regard their rights to be rigidly held on to, but follow the example of Jesus as outlined in the New Testament: “(Jesus) Who being in very nature of God, did not consider equality of God to be something grasped but humbled Himself taking the very nature of a servant.” Philippians 2:6-7
This is the place in which we should desire to live. We try to help our students to understand that this is how we should aspire to live, to be able to demonstrate the Biblical model of meekness.
There are many strong messages from our current culture that would suggest to be meek is to be weak. Rather than be meek, be strong, be powerful, show how you can stand up for your rights and influence other people. Though these behaviours may not necessarily be wrong in themselves, they become destructive when it comes from a self-centered perspective. Yet this is not how it is seen from a Biblical perspective. To be meek while displaying the qualities spoken about above, are in complete alignment to the way God has called us to live. May the Heathdale community be a community that is known as a strong community through following Jesus’s example of meekness. It’s our prayer that the students desire to live according to God’s calling and to know the blessing of being meek.