Meek and mild? I think not!

My cousin preached at church today, and as always, his sermon was so full of meaty, weighty stuff to consider that I will have to download the podcast later to get all the gems. But once thing really stuck with me - a definition he got somewhere else (he was adamant it wasn't his own) for word translated as 'meek'.

Being the kind of child I was, who really wanted nothing more than to go to Bible college or read for a theology degree when I left school (& yes, there's a story there about why I didn't) I learnt early on in my Bible-reading career that meek doesn't mean mild. It doesn't mean being being a doormat.

But this definition today caught my imagination: Being meek means getting angry enough at the injustices of and in the world that you are motivated to action, but not at the injustices perpetrated against yourself.

Think about that for a second - get angry at poverty, at poor ECD for our children, at the fact that some schools still have pit toilets, or that in some schools girls can't go to school without fear of being raped, or that some families sleep 5 to a room while others have 2 rooms per person in a family of 5, or that in some suburbs you aren't safe from being shot inside your home by a stray bullet punching through your window because of gang violence, or..... by all means get angry about those things and try to contribute to the solution. 

But when you feel discriminated against, or when you feel life is unfair to you personally, or when someone slanders your name, or gossips about you, or steals your possessions, di not get angry about these things if it leads you to violence.

Why? Because, as a follower of Jesus, you know that when the world shows you its ugly side, when it reveals its hatred of you, it hated Jesus first, and it hated Jesus more. 

And how did Jesus react when his name was slandered, when lies were told about him, when his innocence was hidden for political expediency, when his enemies conspired against him, when he was beaten, whipped, sleep deprived, mocked, tortured and murdered? He responded with forgiveness - "Father, forgive then, for they know not what they do." Of course they knew what they were doing! Of course the religious leaders and the political rulers, the soldiers and the mob knew EXACTLY what they were doing - they wanted him dead. But they didn't know AT ALL what they were doing - they were helping to ensure that the salvation of every man, woman and child who had ever lived, and would ever live would be secured.

When the world shows us its ugly underbelly, it doesn't realise that it is also giving us the opportunity to be, and to demonstrate, the visible love, joy, peace and freedom that is present through Jesus.

So get angry about injustice, just not injustice towards yourself. Be meek.

My cousin used a fabulous analogy. Picture a labrador puppy and an adult boerbul. The puppy gambols around the adult, biting its tail, ears, and snaps at its face. The adult boerbul could, with a single snap of its powerful jaws, annihilate the puppy. Instead, it tolerantly endures the puppy's antics. Why? Because it is meek. Power under control. It could retaliate, but it chooses not to because it recognises that the puppy doesn't really know what it is doing.

As believers we have the power and might of all of heaven on our side. As daughters and sons of the Most High God, we could destroy them. Wer could call down fire and SMITE them. Instead, we choose to be like our brother and Lord. We do not choose revenge. We do not choose anger. We choose love, and forgiveness. We choose to be meek.