S19P3 – The beatitudes: reward for the meek

Matt. 5:5
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

I’ve heard meekness described as controlled power or a submissive spirit. Websters defines the meek one as enduring injury with patience and without resentment. Considering that Jesus is our model for meekness, I find this definition to be rather fitting. The meekness of God the Son was fully displayed when He suffered death on a cross despite having the power to vanquish his persecutors in an instant with a mere thought. Instead, He placed himself in submission to the will of God the Father and bore the weight of the world’s sins. And He did so with patience and without resentment.

After creating mankind, God told them to subdue the world in which they were created [Gen 1:27-30]. God gave them dominion over the beasts of the land and the fish of the sea. In essence, He handed them the keys to the kingdom and told them to rule. Requiring submission for the benefit of man, God instructed him not to eat from the tree that would bring death [Gen. 2:16-17]. The meek man would have submitted, but both Adam and Eve disobeyed this command and lost their dominion over the world [Gen. 3:17-24]. The world God gave mankind to subdue is now outside his control. It makes perfect sense that God’s reward for those who are meek now, those who submit to him with patience and without resentment, would inherit the earth and regain the dominion that Adam and Eve lost.

Setting aside the earth as an inheritance for the meek is one way that God plans to bring back into alignment that which He had planned long ago but that was lost because of the disobedience of man. The earth was ours once, and it will belong once more to those who are meek. In our human minds, this reward might far outweigh what we are called to do to earn it. In God’s mind, we are merely setting the crooked path straight and restoring creation as He designed it. Father, grow in us the submissive spirit of your Son, that we would endure with patience and without resentment that which we must endure to be faithfully obedient to you, knowing the great reward that You have planned for us.