Archives for September 2019

Words are important. We quickly learn as children to move our hand from the hot stove because the blisters and burns were so painful that one time we didn’t. At the library we understand what they mean by quiet! It means no talking. Not even whispering into your cell phone “for a quick minute!” The definition we give to words informs our attitude toward them. 

For a long time, the words humility and meekness have looked a certain way in my mind. Shy. Quiet. Doormat. Insecure. There was also the notion of putting others first and thinking of others more than I think of myself. Essentially, I had a blend of some negative connotations, peppered with a few grains of biblical truth. 

Overall, humility and meekness embodied undesirable traits to emulate. The end result was unattractive and didn’t look successful (which was very important to me), and I felt guilty to be unable to produce these traits in my own character. I suspect I’m not alone.

Letting the Bible Shape Our Definitions 

“What does the Bible say?” is usually my favorite question to ask myself when faced with a challenge. I’m ashamed to say it was not one I initially used to question my own faulty narrative regarding these two character traits. Nonetheless, Scripture came to my rescue.It was a deep-dive into the letter Paul wrote TItus that helped me see I’d misunderstood humility and meekness. The language both challenged and enlightened me. Because that’s what Scripture does: It brings light to things otherwise hidden.

Titus 2:15a reads: “Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority.” The verse stopped me in my tracks. An inner dialogue of sorts began inside my head. Declare, exhort, rebuke; these are all strong action verbs, I thought. These are not actions to be carried out by someone who was a doormat or insecure. They require confidence. Yet, we are called to be humble. What does it look like to declare, exhort, and rebuke, while remaining meek? How does that even work? Scripture had my full attention. So I kept digging.

Letting the Bible Explain the Bible

When you are a Christian, you will feel the tension between the life we currently have here and the one we are headed to in glory. In practical terms, this means we will live in the tension of familiarity that becomes strange as we grow in our faith, and strangeness that slowly becomes our home. The Bible calls us exiles. Because that is exactly what our status is: Exiled from our true home.  

I’d misinterpreted what humility and meekness meant. How? Like so many, I learned early in adulthood to define success and confidence through the world’s definition. To succeed and be confident meant to be strong and self-reliant. Weakness was not admirable, nor did it lead to success. Weak is who the winners ate for breakfast. 

But here’s a quick look at what the Bible says about meekness:

From the lips of Jesus, when he spoke the beatitudes: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5 (ESV)

Written by David, roughly a thousand years before Christ: “But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.” Psalm 37:11 (ESV)

These verses, separated by a millenia and similarly worded, are pointing to a promise. One prophesied by a shepherd who would be king; the other preached by the King who came to shepherd. Who is the promise for?

Since the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek, it’s worth looking briefly at the vocabulary employed to make this promise. In Hebrew, meek means “…of a lowly, pious, and modest mind, which prefers to bear injuries rather than return them…”[note]https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=H6035 [/note]

As for the Greek meaning, we find: “…that the meekness manifested by the Lord and commended to the believer is the fruit of power. The common assumption is that when a man is meek it is because he cannot help himself; but the Lord was ‘meek’ because he had the infinite resources of God at His command.”[note]https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/Dictionary/viewTopic.cfm?topic=VT0001785[/note] The confidence displayed in the meekness of Jesus is “neither elated nor cast down, simply because it is not occupied with self at all.”[note]https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/dictionary/viewTopic.cfm?topic=VT0001785[/note] 

Letting Jesus Show Us the Way

Lest we forget this conversation.[note]John 14:1-7[/note] When Jesus was outlining his purpose for the disciples saying: “I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas interjects: “Lord, we do not know where You are going. How can we know the way?” And Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

Essentially, Jesus was saying: Look to me for how to live between now and when you arrive home.  Jesus’s life, words, and attitude provide a real-life example of what meekness and humility look like. Because he embodied humanity in his own flesh, we can find clarity in his life where our definitions fail us. 

So, herein lies the paradox. Humility embodied in Christ looked like a man who ordered storms to cease and left his closest friends scratching their heads wondering what kind of man he was, who could command obedience from wind and sea.[note] Matthew 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25[/note] Indeed, meekness is lived out in the Lamb who stood before worldly authorities and did not seek his own defence. Yet he affirmed his identity when he declared at his friend’s funeral, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25-27), right before bringing  that friend back to life in front of everyone present. 

In Jesus; God made flesh, we see meekness with power that declares Who he is, rebukes even stormy waters, and exhorts men with authority and life-altering love. The same man who overturns tables in anger also bends down to wash the dirty feet of twelve men, including the one who would betray him. Indeed, what man is this? Jesus. That’s Who.

Jesus was not shy, and he was certainly not insecure. We think doormat and roll our eyes when we remember that as Christians we are told to turn the other cheek. But in Jesus, meekness looks like surrender. He could be bold because he had nothing to prove; he knew exactly who he was. He was a King who had come to save others by doing for them what they could not do for themselves. He was confident in the One who sent him, and therefore did not feel insecure when others questioned, doubted, or even abused him. He felt hurt, yes. But his identity never wavered. 

Jesus’ whole life was example after example of turning the other cheek. Not a doormat, but more like a doorway. Instead of walking on it, he invited all to walk through it, so they could be made new. He loved us beyond all measure to the point of death, so we wouldn’t have to die. 

When I think ‘doormat,’ I think of someone who lets others take full advantage of them –  Someone who doesn’t think their personhood deserves or should demand any regard from others. Yet Jesus, being truly man and truly God, understood his worth plainly. He wasn’t letting others take advantage of him. He was simply fulfilling the purpose for which God the Father sent him. His life on earth was entirely surrendered. From Bethlehem to Gethsemane, his life was willed by the Father. Meekness is the confident obedience to surrender our rights to ourselves and live under the lordship of Christ. Humility as lived out by Jesus is otherworldly power contained and joyfully submitted for others’ sake.  

Do we dare live like this? Yes! Because when we are meek, we no longer make this life our personal pursuit of happiness and self-actualization. That often leads to an exhausting chase after perishable things that consume without giving life. The source of our joy comes not from fighting to have our way, but from following His. And the astounding result is that in the process, we end up uncovering our true self and worth. We are strong. Strong enough to declare, exhort, and rebuke, without the personal agenda for self-affirmation. Strong enough to bear injuries rather than injure. True strength is found when we become meek and reflect our Savior.

About the Author: Paola Barrera was born in Spanish, lives in French, and thinks in English. She loves words and uses them as arrows to point to the best words she knows — those left by our Maker and found in Scripture. Her aim: to think biblically about all of life. She’s a writer, speaker, and mentor. She blogs at WordsOutloud.net where she writes from the intersection between everyday life and eternal perspective. Canadian through the gift of immigration, she and her husband Gustavo call Montreal home. You can find her on twitter @Paola_BarreraR and Instagram @paola_m_barrera.

So real talk. I grew up in the church, heard bible stories, sang songs, did Awana, all the things. But until my early twenties I didn’t actually understand that Saul was Paul. I was reminded of this on my visit to Rome last summer, where Paul spent some of his time as documented in Acts and in his letter to the church in the book of Romans. It was interesting to see where that reflection led and how there’s some major tie-in with a concept God has been teaching me for the last eight years or so. The Saul/Paul faux-pa of mine reflects the major theological concept of sanctification in two different ways. 

The first was personal. For most of my life I was showing up to church and encountering the truth of who God was, but wasn’t being transformed and changed by what I was learning. It wasn’t until different trials, encouragements, relationships, and even ego-shattering events lead me to desire God more deeply. Only then did I begin to realize there was more to the Bible than just reading the words. There was more to my relationship with God than just showing up to church on Sunday. 

In Christianity, the transformation that comes as we encounter Christ, obey him, and seek to live our lives based on His call to holiness is part of an important process called sanctification. 

This new knowledge changed many aspects of my Christian walk. God continued to show me how important it was to truly study and understand his written word. Not just plug in pretty verses, or magical 8 ball bible flipping when I was in a struggle. But like ACTUALLY study it. Then ACTUALLY put it into practice – However God led, through conviction to change, encouragement to do something more, or clarity to align what I may think was true to what he says is true through the Bible. 

The second reason my Saul/Paul realization is borderline comical, though, is because of the documented sanctification process that Paul went through in the New Testament. 

It’s a concept revealed throughout the Bible, but I’d never really noticed it before: God never leaves a life unchanged after encountering Him and surrendering to His truth. 

Paul’s dramatic testimony as a man who hunted down and murdered early Christians transformed into a man dedicated to supporting early churches and writing at least seven books of the New Testament is an extremely encouraging example. He didn’t just meet Jesus and follow him, his life was truly changed by the truth he learned. 

So why does this matter? 

It’s important because we can get half of the full truth by studying scripture certain ways. This not only affects our understanding of the Bible, but our personal walk with the Lord. How we study the sanctification process and it’s biblical implications forms our outreach, verbiage, and most importantly, our understanding of who God is. 

One of the major taglines I hear in current church culture is, “Come as you are.” One of the closest verses I see in the Bible that talks about this is in Matthew 11: 

“Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28, ESV) 

The verse is such a comforting and loving picture of how Christ knows we’re struggling and how He wants us to come to him for rest. It’s beautiful. 

It’s easy to walk into churches that proclaim, “Come as you are” in an effort to reach people who desperately need Jesus, who need rest, who need perfect love, and feel encouraged by this response to just come. All are truly welcome. But focusing on only one side of this scripture and concept can leave out the very important other side – We are also called to be transformed. The Bible isn’t a halfway picture, and further reading reveals more of the complete story. Matthew 11 continues with: 

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest in your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden light” (Matthew 11: 29-30, ESV).  

In this passage, Jesus describes how we’re to learn from Him, do as He does, encounter and take His yoke upon us. We’re to lean in close with Him and walk through life learning from His ways. In being called to change and learn from Christ, we don’t stay in the same place. We leave different than who we were when we first came.

Here’s what’s on my heart: There’s grave danger if we leave out half of the picture when reading or studying the Bible. Claiming to simply “come as you are” doesn’t reflect the change encountered when we allow God full access to our lives. I’ll save touching on specific topics, but we could insert any hot button people group and it would reveal why this tagline can be popular to relate or invite people in. It’s so very broad. 

In reality, all of our lives and sins fit into what needs to be conformed into God’s ways. 

God doesn’t leave us unchanged once we encounter Him. We’re called to learn how Jesus lived, learn how God calls us to change through studying the Bible, obey the truth of His precepts, and surrender to the sanctification process. 

And let me tell you, it is amazing. 

And it is painful. 

But it is part of God’s design and the wonderful work He does as we learn how to live life the way He wants us to. 

God’s perfect love doesn’t just call us to come as we are, it calls us to not stay the same as we go. 

Seeking change alongside,

Amanda

About the Author: Amanda lives in Portland, Oregon and is a cardiac ICU nurse. She has a heart to live out the Great Commission in both her workplace and in the city at large. She loves the Bible, and wants to see her own and many others lives continually transformed by the solid truth of God’s word. She enjoys hot tea, baby goats, and adventures in the mountains. Seeking & serving Jesus while being made in His image is her core desire.