Devotionals from my Bible app: Meekness Isn’t Weakness (Matthew 5:5)

“Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.”

Matthew 5:5 NKJV

https://bible.com/bible/114/mat.5.5.NKJV

Or put another way: “blessed are those who keep their strength under control, for they shall inherit the earth.”


Meekness Isn’t Weakness

Everything around us—the world, the culture, the people—tends to applaud power and strength, independence and intelligence, boldness and superiority.

But in the third beatitude, a series of promises Jesus made about God’s Kingdom, Jesus highlighted something different, saying:

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

Matthew 5:5 NIV

The English word "meek" comes from the Greek word "praeis." It means gentle, humble, or submissive; modest, mild, or unpretentious. In fact, when Paul describes the “fruits of the Spirit” (traits developed in His people by His Spirit), the words "meekness" and "gentleness" are often used interchangeably.

But, let’s be clear: If such descriptions paint a frail and feeble picture in your mind, you can be certain that meekness isn’t weakness.

Meekness is strength under control. It's power submitted to God’s authority.

Now, if “meek” isn’t a word that you’d use to currently describe yourself, that’s okay. Jesus wasn’t speaking to those who had it all together—and He isn’t expecting a perfect version of us, either. Instead, He’s extending a blessing on who His people were (and are) becoming.

God is continually developing these beatitude traits inside of His followers. He's refining, sanctifying, and transforming us to be more and more like Him.

In Scripture, Jesus Himself is called “meek.” But as you probably know, He was far from passive, apathetic, or a pushover. Instead of relying on His own power—like summoning legions of angels to avoid hanging on that cross—He leaned into God’s strength and restrained His limitless power.

Jesus’ upside-down kingdom will be packed with those who harness their strength for God’s glory and who humble themselves at His feet.


Share your faith: When you submit to God’s strength instead of relying on your own, people notice.


Share your faith: Today, you can represent Christ by leveraging your strengths to serve others with humility, gentleness, and compassion.


Prayer: God, thank You for welcoming me into Your kingdom. Thank You for accepting me, even though I don’t have it all together. I’m reminded that Your power is sufficient for all my needs, so help me to lean on Your strength today. Please help me walk gently and humbly with those I encounter. In Jesus’s name, Amen.


Transcription from video lead:

Have you ever thought being meek means being weak? During His famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave us eight beatitudes – eight attitudes – that lead to a blessed and happy life. Don’t we all want to experience happiness? In Matthew 5:5, Jesus says, “blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” In other words, happy are the meek. Now, at first, that may sound strange. In our world, meekness can sound like weakness. It can sound like passivity. But that’s not what Jesus meant. Meekness is strength under control. It’s the ability to have power and passion and emotion under strength. And no one demonstrated this better than Jesus. In John 13 we see one of the most beautiful pictures of what meekness looks like in action. Jesus at the last supper looked into the faces of His disciples. He knew it would be His last chance before the cross to show them His love and to inspire them to carry on His vision. So what did Jesus do? He picked up a towel and washed their feet. That’s meekness, strength under control. Like many of you, I’ve carried a lot of responsibilities, and at times, I felt a lot of pressure. So what did I do? I pushed harder. I overreacted. I fired back. And honestly, I’m not demonstrating meekness at times. But what I’ve learned is living with strength under control—meekness—it actually produces much better results with others. You see, meekness doesn’t make you weak. Meekness actually makes your strength more useful. Having an attitude of meekness enables you to respond instead of react. It empowers you to serve others rather than be self-serving. It helps you to walk into a room and ask: “who can I add value to” instead of “who can help me.” So the question is, are you living a happy life? If not, have you tried meekness? When we live like Jesus, with strength under control, we earn the trust of others and truly, we inherit the earth. God bless.

Note after sharing the devotional and transcription: I knew I needed to share not only this devotional but also the video lead. These messages were mind-blowing. Meekness as strength under control – I’ve never heard it spelled that way before. It’s yet another answer to a prayer I’ve been praying, which is how to live a long life?

Truthfully, I’ve not been meek in this life. As the “short, small kid” with the “squeaky-high voice,” along with a host of other challenges upon mounting challenges that I never* learned to deal with until far later, meekness not only meant weakness, but also admitting that my enemies were right: that I was small, short, weak, and worthless, and that I could do nothing about it. Until therapy, I do not think I could say I experienced anyone as truly in my corner. Now, when I look back, I realize that there were a few, not to mention the God of the Bible, if I would only turn to Him and call out to Him to save me and help me. But I didn’t know that then.

[*Once again with the “never” commentary – it’s not truly “never,” as I began learning how to deal with some of these things in therapy, and now, post-therapy, finally learning how to deal with them on a whole new level. Depending on how many more posts I write where I share about learning how much of a “ditz” I was, I probably will use the word “never” more times. Just know that when I say “never” in this context, I simply mean that I went through my entire childhood and young adulthood without knowing a darn thing in whatever topic area I happen to be referencing, and only now, by God’s grace and His wisdom am I learning it at the present point in time.]

If I want to live a long life, according to God’s word, I need to:

• Keep my tongue from evil (Psalm 34:13, 1 Peter 3:10)
• Don’t speak lies (Psalm 34:13, 1 Peter 3:10)
• Depart from evil (Psalm 34:14, 1 Peter 3:11)
• Do good (Psalm 34:14, 1 Peter 3:11)
• Seek peace; pursue it (Psalm 34:14, 1 Peter 3:11)
• Learn to develop strength (i.e. emotions, passion, intelligence, knowledge, gifting, etc) under control (Matthew 5:5) with the promise of inheriting the earth.

I expect this list will grow. But I’ll leave this with you for now, as this has been quite groundbreaking. Praise the Lord.