Press the arrow to listen to Graham Kendrick lead “Meekness and Majesty” while reading today’s devotion on meekness.

Scripture
Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5

Observation
When I was a boy in primary school, my teachers would write on my report card, “Philip has a quiet voice.” After the parent-teacher interview, my mother would spread those blue pages out on the dining room table for me to read. If there was any comment I despised, it was that one. I did not want to be quiet. I felt I had much to say. But for some reason I couldn’t turn up my volume.

I’m beginning to wonder if God crafted me with a volume-suppressing switch in my vocal chords for a reason. Instead of chafing against what God has given, I must be thankful. His call to all of us is to be gentle. Meekness and gentleness is not a robust word that rallies us to action. I like war movies like anyone else, where heroes take action. But it is the gentle who get it all in the end according to Jesus.

Gentleness does not imply avoidance, compromise, appeasement or anything of the like. There is a message and a mandate but the way of getting there is tactful and wise, full of listening silence and enveloping love.  The results of the gentle way are more powerful than dynamite. A small creek can erode a massive canyon without a blast of explosives. There is power in the deliberate persistence of gracious tough love.

Application
I want to inherit the earth, for I am an ambitious person. But I don’t always like Jesus’ way of getting there. It requires submission and sometimes humiliation. Being walked on and talked over is part of the side effects of the path of gentleness. Gentleness requires listening when I want to interrupt, patience when I want to explode, consideration when I want to object, and more time than I have to give, or so I think. But a person make a choice early on whether he or she will really trust the simple path of Jesus. I had a friend who called this the “long slow curve” of relationships and it is that bend in the road that makes all of the difference.

Prayer
Father, let the gentleness of Jesus pervade me. I know that your Son feels anger greatly. He did not mince his words. And yet, his course on earth, was one of truth pitched with a graceful arc. When my rights, my objections, my impatience, my importance play forte, let the piano of the Holy Spirit take me over. You have made me to be meek, so help me to be a gentle man. Amen.