Part 2 One Woman's Pursuit of the Perfect Climate

Good morning!  Thanks for joining me again.  How's the temp at your place today?  Another artic day here, but warm inside.  Here's the continuation of yesterday's post just as promised.  If you missed it, you can read part 1 here.

Here's our passage again.  Matt. 5:4-6

   2.  “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the Earth.”  

 The scope of this powerful word goes from unpretentiousness to freedom from pride.  Meekness is NOT timidity, weakness or shyness.  Meekness is clearly not thinking too highly of ourselves.  But it is not thinking less of ourselves; it is thinking of ourselves less. Did you catch that?  It's thinking of ourselves less often.  Instead, meekness focuses on the needs/attention of others.

I think we all know how God feels about pride.  He hates it.  He resists it.  Therefore, when I give in to pride, God resists me.  I don’t want God to have to resist me.  I want Him to find me irresistible.  This means, I must seek humility in my life.  Meekness builds on humility.

Living meekly looks like this:

•  Pretension turns to authenticity (when will we stop pretending to be church ladies who’ve figured it all out and instead admit our need to be taught?);
• Vengeance transforms to self-control (can we get to the place where we say “God, you knew this person was going to hurt me – I leave it in your hands?”);
• Impatient anger becomes strong gentleness (can I settle down and wait for a better solution than anger?)

In Chip Ingram’s book God As He Longs For You To See Him Chip says, “What difference would it make if you firmly believed that the problem in your life that is most pressing and difficult – the one you don’t understand, that you chafe against, that makes you feel overwhelmed and ready to give up – was allowed and orchestrated by an all-wise loving Father?  What if everything in your life was part of a wise plan?”   

JI Packer says, “All that comes my way is from the hand of a good and loving God, who, knowing all things actual and possible, is exerting His unlimited power to execute the best possible outcomes, by the best possible means, to fulfill the highest possible purposes for me.”  A meek person understands this!

How do I get there?  By seeking to look at things from God's perspective, praying for the ability to “see others” and what is important to them and not look at life through the lens of self. (How does this affect me?  How do I position myself to get my needs/wants met first?)

Have you noticed we are living in the “ME” generation?  We need to rehear phrases like “It’s a ME day!”  I understand the value of taking care of self so that we have something to offer those we care for, but come on!  If it really is all about God, how can it ever be about me?  This attitude couldn’t be more anti-scriptural or anti-meek.  Remember our definition of meekness is “not thinking less of ourselves, but thinking of ourselves less.”  1 Cor. 10:24 says, “Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.”

And if we don’t tackle this issue, we will pass it right down to our kids.  Ipods, texting, laptops – all scream “it’s all about me”.  Are you training your kids to think of themselves less and others more or self-gratification first? Have you set boundaries for use of phones and electronics?  Especially while in public? What about intentionally raise them the opposite, to live counterculturally (Romans 12:1,2)? They won't come upon it naturally any more than we will.  In our natural state, we are preoccupied with self to the exclusion of others.  This training/discipline starts with us.  When we do this, we will possess everything that matters.

 Indicator on my internal thermometer:  Ask, “Am I preoccupied with myself?”  "When was the last time I put someone else's desires first and the expense of my own?"  "When was the last time I accepted humbly a difficulty/difficult person into my life, not taking matters into my angry, self-protective hands?"

To be honest, I am the most self-centered person I've ever met.   I know what I want and when I want it (usuallly now).  I know I’m self-driven and I discuss this with God daily, asking Him to forgive me and help me to get it out of my life.  I do not want to just live day to day doing everything possible to ensure my own comfort and happiness.

Once again, God's got it all written down for us....check out Phillippians 2:3-11 (Jesus' example) 

³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature^[a] God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature^[b] of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Just the idea that God wants us to be like Jesus and helps us take on His characteristics is so amazing.  His desire is always for us to be growing and changing.  I love that.  What a good lesson on how to keep our spiritual temperature from spiking and dipping, don't you think?

One more to go....come back tomorrow for #3?