For Reading and Meditation:
Colossians 3:1-15
It is time now to focus more precisely on what Jesus meant when He said: "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." Meekness, as Jesus is using the word here, refers to an attitude of heart and mind that is entirely free from a spirit of demandingness and accepts the will of God in its entirety. I think J.B. Phillips gets close to the meaning in Jesus' mind when he translates His statement thus: "Happy are those who claim nothing, for the whole earth will belong to them." I must stress once again that the thought here is not of passivity, but of active compliance and obedience to the will of God. If I might be permitted to embark upon a translation of my own, I would put it this way: "Congratulations to those who do not feel the need to be over-assertive, for they will inherit the earth." The meek are so sure of their resources and their goals that they can afford to be meek. Others have to become aggressive simply because they are unsure of themselves and their goals - hence the universe is closed to them. The meek could be called the assured, for they are meek enough to rest confidently in the resources of God. I realise, of course, that this is directly opposite to the world's view of things. The world thinks of strength, power, ability, self-confidence and self-assurance as the keys to success. The more you assert yourself and the more you affirm yourself, says the worldly person, the more you will get. But such people do not inherit the earth: they just inherit dirt.
O Father, more and more as I hang upon Your words, I realise that You have "hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children." Unfold Your truth in even more new and exciting ways to my heart. In Jesus' Name. Amen.