(From International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia)mek'-nes ('anawah; praotes, prautes): "Meekness" in the Old Testament ('anawah, 'anwah) is from 'anaw, "suffering," "oppressed," "afflicted," denoting the spirit produced under such experiences.
The word is sometimes translated "poor"
Job 24:4, the Revised Version margin "meek"; Amos 8:4);"humble" (Psalms 9:12,Psalms 9:18,
the Revised Version margin "meek"); "lowly"
(Proverbs 3:34; Proverbs 16:19, the Revised Version (British and American) "poor," margin "meek").It is generally associated with some form of oppression. The "meek" were the special objects of the Divine regard, and to them special blessings are promised
Psalms 22:26, "The meek shall eat and be satisfied"; Psalms 25:9, "The meek will he guide in justice; and the meek will he teach his way";
Psalms 37:11, "The meek shall inherit the land";
Psalms 147:6, "Yahweh upholdeth the meek";Psalms 149:4, "He will beautify the meek with salvation," the Revised Version margin "victory";
compare Isaiah 11:4;
Isaiah 29:19;
Isaiah 61:1,"Yahweh hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek," the Revised Version margin "poor";
Zephaniah 2:3;
Psalms 45:4,
"because of (the Revised Version margin "in behalf of") truth and meekness and righteousness")Of Moses it is said he "was very meek, above all the men that were upon the face of the earth," notwithstanding the Divine revelations given him, and in the face of opposition
Numbers 12:3;
compare 2 Corinthians 12:1-6.Meekness is ascribed even to Yahweh Himself
2 Samuel 22:36,
"Thy gentleness ('anawah) hath made me great";
compare Psalms 18:36 ('anwah), the Revised Version margin "condescension");
men are exhorted to seek it
aniah 2:3, "Seek righteousness, seek meekness"; compare Proverbs 15:1; Proverbs 16:14;Proverbs 25:15; Ecclesiastes 10:4)In the Apocrypha also "meekness" holds a high place
Ecclesiasticus 1:27,
"The fear of the Lord is wisdom and instruction: faith and meekness are his delight,"
the Revised Version (British and American) "in faith and meekness is his good pleasure";
Ecclesiasticus 3:19."Meekness" in the New Testament (praotes, prautes) is not merely a natural virtue, but a Christian "grace";
it is one of the "fruits of the Spirit"
Galatians 5:23.The conception of meekness, as it had been defined by Aristotle, was raised by Christianity to a much higher level, and associated with the commonly despised quality of humility (see under the word).
It was the spirit of the Saviour Himself (Matthew 11:29): "I am meek (praos) and lowly in heart"
compare 2 Corinthians 10:1,
"by the meekness and gentleness of Christ");it presupposes humility, flows from it, and finds expression in moderation (see under the word).
See Trench, Syn. of New Testament, 145;
Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek,New Testament Lexicon, under the word) Christians are exhorted to cherish it and show it in their relations to one another
Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:12; 1 Timothy 6:11; Titus 3:2,
"showing all meekness toward all men");it ought to characterize Christian teachers or those in authority in "instructing (the Revised Version (British and American) "correcting," margin "instructing") them that oppose themselves"
(2 Timothy 2:25);
the saving, "implanted" (the Revised Version margin "inborn") word is to be received "with meekness"
James 1:21;
a man is to "show by his good life his works in meekness of wisdom"
James 3:13,
and to give a reason for the hope that is in him, "with meekness and fear"
1 Peter 3:15.
The interchangeableness of "meek" with "poor," etc., in the Old Testament ought to be specially noted. Jesus' opening of His ministry at Nazareth
Luke 4:18,
"He anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor",
and His message to John
Matthew 11:5,
"The poor have good tidings preached to them" are in harmony therewith.
The NKJV translates the Greek word prautes as "gentleness," while the KJV uses "meekness." II Corinthians 10:1 refers to Christ's meekness (prautes) and gentleness (epieikeia) as separate virtues. Prautes describes a condition of mind and heart- an internal attitude- whereas gentleness (mildness combined with tenderness) refers to actions- an external behaviour. Although English has no direct equivalent words to prautes, "meekness" comes closest.
The drawback to this is that in modern English "meekness" carries the stigma of weakness and cowardliness. In contrast,the meekness manifested by God and given to the saints is the fruit of power. It is enduring injury with patience and without resentment.
The Greek word for meekness-prautes-and has nothing to do with negativity or weakness. It is in fact quite a strong word meaning "openness to God and man." As such, it implies a determined effort toward a conciliatory attitude. Applied to human relationships it involves tolerance and flexibility. In the relationship to God it implies a readiness to accept His Word and His will.
Gentle Jesus meek and mild' But meekness does = gentle BUT!! Meekness is not weakness biblically!
The meek are those who know themselves to be poor in spirit, who have learned, honestly and from their hearts, to regret all the dehumanizing and subhuman things in which they have been involved as wanderers in this lost world, and who now in humility want only the will of God.
We should have a meek attitude to all others regardless of our relationship with them. Even when someone is antagonistic, meek correction and teaching will assist God in leading them to repentance.
It is important for us to be meek, rather than just humble, if we want to walk in the power of God. The reason Jesus could be meek was because He had all the power of heaven at His disposal. So do we. In fact, in I Peter 5:5-7, where it says that we must humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God so that we can be exalted in due time, the verse continues. In its entirety it says, "p"Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God sets Himself against the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you, casting the whole of your cares and worries on Him once and for all, for He cares for you affectionately.""
Every time you hear the Word you should listen like you've never heard it before and know nothing about it. Receive it with meekness, for if you think you already know it all, you will not benefit from the preaching, teaching or hearing of it.
Meekness is the opposite of abrasiveness, this inner mildness flows from a confident strength that is the antithesis of arrogance. The man who is secure in his love for God does not need to intimidate but can be kind and humble.
When we think of meekness we usually think of a little lamb, weak and defenceless, but Jesus was obviously not weak or defenceless. Sometimes we think that meekness is humility, but that does not accurately describe it either. Humility is certainly a part of meekness, but is its own separate thing, more related to meekness rather than defining it. Some Bibles translate it as gentleness, which describes Jesus to a great extent, but He was also not always gentle. The truth is that there is no adequate word in English to define meekness. It is a powerful trait that is absolutely essential to walking in the victory and authority God gives His people.
Meekness, gentleness, courtesy, is an important quality of the Christian, and of anyone who aspires to godliness and true humanity. It is one of the primary forms that love takes.
Meekness is not "weakness", but rather a slave-like submission to God. Your spirit is free from rebellion and pride. It is the hidden man of the heart - a meek and quiet spirit - which is greatly valued by God (I Peter 3:4). Meekness or humility is defined as "freedom from pride and arrogance; modest estimation of our own worth." Humility or meekness is the opposite of pride. The Bible says that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (I Peter 5:5) , and it is the meek which will inherit the earth (Psalm 37:11).
Meekness means a calm temper, someone who is not easily provoked. It does not mean weakness. The greatest leaders among God's true people were meek i.e. strong, but not swaggering: "the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.". Meekness is a self-control quality that Christians are instructed to learn and develop, not just for the interim, but for the powers and responsibilities that await them.
In the Bible, meekness is primarily emphasized as submissiveness toward God (rather than toward men). As directed toward God, meekness and humility.
Meekness defines a condition of heart and mind that is willing to learn how to improve one's condition. It differs from gentleness in that gentleness marks the actions of those who have the inward spirit of meekness.
There is often a beautiful blending of majesty and humility, magnanimity and lowliness, in great minds. The mightiest and holiest of all Beings that ever trod our world was the meekest of all. The Ancient of Days was as the "infant of days." He who had listened to nothing but angel-melodies from all eternity, found, while on earth, melody in the lispings of an infant's voice, or in an outcast's tears! No wonder an innocent lamb was His emblem, or that the anointing Spirit came down upon Him in the form of the gentle dove. He had the wealth of worlds at His feet.
The hosts of heaven had only to be summoned as His retinue. But all the pageantry of the world, all its dreams of carnal glory, had, for Him, no fascination. The Tempter, from a mountain-summit, showed Him a wide scene of "splendid misery;" but He spurned alike the thought and the adversary away! John and James would call down fire from heaven on a Samaritan village; He rebukes the vengeful suggestion! Peter, on the night of the betrayal, cuts off the ear of an assassin; the intended Victim, again, only challenges His disciple, and heals His enemy!
Meekness is a rock overlooking the sea of anger, which breaks all the waves that dash against it, yet remains completely unmoved.
Meekness is not spiritless, tamely submissive, spineless or wimpy. It is not phlegmatic, which means cool, sluggish, perhaps thick-skinned, a merely natural disposition versus the virtue born of true spiritual freedom in Christ. Meekness is a virtue born of the true spiritual freedom in Christ. It is most emphatically not phlegmatic. Don't care. Just be laid-back. Cool. Sluggish. Maybe thick-skinned. You may be using that as your natural disposition as an excuse.
Meekness consists in praying calmly and sincerely for a neighbour when he causes many turmoil's.
Meekness is a willingness to give up your own feeble, finite strength and put your life into His hands. When you do, nothing can prevent Him from extending to you His boundless, unquenchable, and eternal wisdom, love and power. Again we see that God's way up is down. To receive the many treasures of His Kingdom, you must recognize your own basic poverty of spirit (our own utter emptiness and inability apart from God) and, by His grace, "u"mourn"" separation from Him.Trusting in God rather than in yourself is no longer a spiritual exercise of obedience; it is becoming a pattern of life growing from a heart that has found its source of peace and seeks none other.
A person is not meek because he cannot help himself but he is meek because he has at his disposal the infinite resources of God. Meekness is the opposite of self-assertiveness and self-interest. It is the calm composure of spirit that is neither elated nor cast down, simply because it is not occupied with self at all.
The meekness that characterises Jesus' life he expects to characterize ours too. ""Learn of me"", he says, ""for I am meek and lowly in heart."" Then we must learn of him, for discipleship is a matter of having his life reproduced in us. We must come to exercise strength through gentleness. We must be people who are impassioned yet gentle at the same time, effective without being coercive, vigorous without being wild.
Meekness will be actualized in our relationships with others. It says in 1 Peter a woman is to have a gentle and quiet spirit, which is a thing very precious in the sight of God. Meekness is the actualization of that inner harmony of our relationship with Christ--an overflowing charity. Meekness is irresistible.
Meekness means a calm temper of mind, not easily provoked According to the dictionary it means to be... humble, submissive,soft and gentle in nature, patient and mild in disposition and spirit.Meekness can also be said to be power and authority under control - in our case, submitted to the indwelling Christ.
Paul calls the believers to meekness because it is the grace of God which saves them, which brings them into the body of Christ and which gifts them. Therefore, as unique members of the body of Christ, we need to appreciate our uniqueness and appropriate the gifts that God has given us to minister to one another.
Meekness is a necessary quality in a good teacher because all of the knowledge in the world is useless if an abrasive manner causes people to walk away with their hands over their ears. Teachers of the Gospel cannot afford to be obnoxious; the stakes are too high, for everyone. Be bold, be forceful, always proclaim the whole Truth regardless of who likes it or not, but don't be deliberately offensive.
Rooted in Christ and resting in His will, you may share His meekness and pass triumphantly through the storms of your life. As you gently bend in the wind and yield yourself to His wise plan for each of your days, "0"the peace that passes all understanding"" comes silently like a cloud and shelters you in His love. Because you know Him as the wise, loving, sovereign King who planned the path and sees the final outcome, you can accept His ways for you as good without argument or opposition. Resisting Him, you fall and break. Surrendered to Him, you stand anchored and indestructible in the fiercest storm.
The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God's estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God has declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than angels.
Meekness in a shepherd and meekness in a teacher is just as needful as in the flock or in students. Moses learned meekness and obedience from what he suffered just as Jesus Christ learned obedience through what he suffered so that he could empathize with his brethren (Hebrews 5:8-9). This humiliating experience served a significant purpose-----that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted. (Hebrews 2:17-18)
Meekness is one of the seven capital virtues. The others are humility, liberality, brotherly love, chastity, temperance, and diligence. They are called capital because all the virtues we strive to practice are said to flow from these seven capital virtues. Meekness is opposed to the capital sin of wrath.
Paul exhorts the Roman believers to live in meekness using their diverse membership in the body of Christ as opportunities for ministry to one another.
Meekness encompasses a readiness to patiently endure suffering, and the capacity to remain joyful along that path of suffering. Only thus can one achieve "victory" in the loftiest sense of the word. It is not achieved through self-affirmation, but through selfless, sacrificial love.
Ultimately, this is the direct antithesis of the worldly state of soul that considers victory as merely a crushing of all of one's foes and rivals, as a successful defence of one's claims. That victory which Christ sought after and which he accomplished (for He continues to attract people's hearts, and will ever attract them to Himself) decisively challenges secular wisdom and its narrow understanding of man and his aspirations.
It is the victory of good, self-denial, and selfless love. In direct contradiction of all earthly experience, the fact that all earthly truths evaporate, lose their attraction before the face of what the Gospels call the "treasure in the Heavens," is revealed in the depths of a believer's heart. It is only that treasure that can truly nourish our souls. We can never be satiated with it, and will never be deceived by it.
Moreover, in accordance with the holding in the Beatitudes, that "the meek shall inherit the earth," we find an absolute expression of that experiential truth, that to the human heart, selfless love has an irrepressible and irresistible attraction; therefore unselfish, selfless love itself is ultimately a force which is unconquerable.
Meekness in the eyes of God should have a primary place in your life. Meekness produces benefits and blessings. Meekness in God's eyes brings you closer to Him. Pride and ego separates you from God and from relishing and appreciating the earth.An ego filled person cannot see the sunset or the clipper ships of clouds sail across the sky because they are wrapped up in themselves. God rewards the meek by giving them their surroundings in a fashion of ownership that escapes most people.
Meekness is a quality of repose in the generous soul and describes a person not easily upset. The meek are moderate and temperate in everything; their wrath tamed, they are not impetuous, but calm. They are sweet and mild, not harsh, no bitter word galling their mouths. Good-natured, in no way malicious, rancorous, or suspicious, they transform everything into goodness and kindness, and since those meek by nature are naturally healthy, they are sound and uncorrupted in body and spirit.
They neither incite others to evil nor themselves are so provoked; they neither offend others nor are offended; they display no rancour toward anyone, are generally self-possessed, are not easily led astray, almost always avoid sin, are very tolerant and so open to reproof they do not resist even when they know the blow will wound. They are not irritable or sad, but consistently happy; compliant and very candid, the meek are straightforward people, in no way devious, and their countenances are clear reflections of their souls. Filled with forgiveness and patience, they are generous by nature and share all they have.
Finally, the meek are more truly human than those who are not, for as the wise man says, man is by nature a gentle animal, as his appearance attests, and violent men seem to have turned into ferocious beasts, merciless and inhuman. Truly happy and fortunate are the meek, for they possess and hold subject the land of the body, so well tamed and unrebelling that it goes wherever the obedient reins of reason signal.
Meekness is not self-denial, but is rather the eclipsing of our own desires in a heartfelt yearning to express our love for our Abba in perfectly following His will.
Meekness is a portion of the fruit of the Spirit, and an evidence that we are branches of the living God. The abiding presence of Meekness is an unmistakable evidence that we are branches of the True Vine, and are bearing much fruit. It is an evidence that we are by faith beholding the King in His beauty and becoming changed into His likeness. Where Meekness exists, the natural tendencies are under the control of the Holy Spirit.
This quality is not a species of cowardice. It is the spirit which Christ manifested when suffering injury, when enduring insult and abuse. To be meek is not to surrender our right; but it is the preservation of self-control under provoking circumstances. There is no hint of the spirit of retaliation. Meekness will not allow emotions and passion to take the reins of the heart.
Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek : for they shall inherit the earth.Matthew 21:5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek , and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.
1 Corinthians 4:21 What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness.
2 Corinthians 10:1 Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you: {in presence: or, in outward appearance}
Galatians 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness ; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. {if: or, although}
Ephesians 4:2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
Colossians 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
1 Timothy 6:11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
Meekness The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer
Meekness and Rest.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Matt.5:5A
A fairly accurate description of the human race might be furnished one unacquainted with it by taking the Beatitudes, turning them wrong side out and saying, `Here is your human race.' For the exact opposite of the virtues in the Beatitudes are the very qualities which distinguish human life and conduct.In the world of men we find nothing approaching the virtues of which Jesus spoke in the opening words of the famous Sermon on the Mount. Instead of poverty of spirit we find the rankest kind of pride; instead of mourners we find pleasure seekers; instead of meekness, arrogance; instead of hunger after righteousness we hear men saying, `I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing'; instead of mercy we find cruelty; instead of purity of heart, corrupt imaginings; instead of peacemakers we find men quarrelsome and resentful; instead of rejoicing in mistreatment we find them fighting back with every weapon at their command. Of this kind of moral stuff civilized society is composed.
The atmosphere is charged with it; we breathe it with every breath and drink it with our mother's milk. Culture and education refine these things slightly but leave them basically untouched. A whole world of literature has been created to justify this kind of life as the only norm alone. And this is the more to be wondered at seeing that these are the evils which make life the bitter struggle it is for all of us. All our heartaches and a great many of our physical ills spring directly out of our sins. Pride, arrogance, resentfulness, evil imaginings, malice, greed: these are the sources of more human pain than all the diseases that ever afflicted mortal flesh.
Into a world like this the sound of Jesus' words comes wonderful and strange, a visitation from above. It is well that He spoke, for no one else could have done it as well; and it is good that we listen. His words are the essence of truth. He is not offering an opinion; Jesus never uttered opinions. He never guessed; He knew, and He knows. His words are not as Solomon's were, the sum of sound wisdom or the results of keen observation. He spoke out of the fullness of His Godhead, and His words are very Truth itself. He is the only one who could say `blessed' with complete authority, for He is the Blessed One come from the world above to confer blessedness upon mankind. And His words were supported by deeds mightier than any performed on this earth by any other man. It is wisdom for us to listen.
As was often so with Jesus, He used this word `meek' in a brief crisp sentence, and not till some time later did He go on to explain it. In the same book of Matthew He tells us more about it and applies it to our lives. `Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.' (Mat 11:28-30) Here we have two things standing in contrast to each other, a burden and a rest. The burden is not a local one, peculiar to those first hearers, but one which is borne by the whole human race. It consists not of political oppression or poverty or hard work. It is far deeper than that. It is felt by the rich as well as the poor for it is something from which wealth and idleness can never deliver us.
The burden borne by mankind is a heavy and a crushing thing. The word Jesus used means a load carried or toil borne to the point of exhaustion. Rest is simply release from that burden. It is not something we do, it is what comes to us when we cease to do. His own meekness, that is the rest.
Let us examine our burden. It is altogether an interior one. It attacks the heart and the mind and reaches the body only from within. First, there is the burden of pride. The labour of self-love is a heavy one indeed. Think for yourself whether much of your sorrow has not arisen from someone speaking slightingly of you. As long as you set yourself up as a little god to which you must be loyal there will be those who will delight to offer affront to your idol. How then can you hope to have inward peace? The heart's fierce effort to protect itself from every slight, to shield its touchy honour from the bad opinion of friend and enemy, will never let the mind have rest. Continue this fight through the years and the burden will become intolerable.
Yet the sons of earth are carrying this burden continually, challenging every word spoken against them, cringing under every criticism, smarting under each fancied slight, tossing sleepless if another is preferred before them. Such a burden as this is not necessary to bear. Jesus calls us to His rest, and meekness is His method. The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort. He develops toward himself a kindly sense of humour and learns to say, `Oh, so you have been overlooked? They have placed someone else before you? They have whispered that you are pretty small stuff after all? And now you feel hurt because the world is saying about you the very things you have been saying about yourself? Only yesterday you were telling God that you were nothing, a mere worm of the dust. Where is your consistency? Come on, humble yourself, and cease to care what men think.'
The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God's estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God has declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That is his motto. He knows well that the world will never see him as God sees him and he has stopped caring. He rests perfectly content to allow God to place His own values. He will be patient to wait for the day when everything will get its own price tag and real worth will come into its own. Then the righteous shall shine forth in the Kingdom of their Father. He is willing to wait for that day.
In the meantime he will have attained a place of soul rest. As he walks on in meekness he will be happy to let God defend him. The old struggle to defend himself is over. He has found the peace which meekness brings. Then also he will get deliverance from the burden of pretence. By this I mean not hypocrisy, but the common human desire to put the best foot forward and hide from the world our real inward poverty. For sin has played many evil tricks upon us, and one has been the infusing into us a false sense of shame. There is hardly a man or woman who dares to be just what he or she is without doctoring up the impression. The fear of being found out gnaws like rodents within their hearts. The man of culture is haunted by the fear that he will some day come upon a man more cultured than himself. The learned man fears to meet a man more learned than he. The rich man sweats under the fear that his clothes or his car or his house will sometime be made to look cheap by comparison with those of another rich man. So-called `society' runs by a motivation not higher than this, and the poorer classes on their level are little better.
Let no one smile this off. These burdens are real, and little by little they kill the victims of this evil and unnatural way of life. And the psychology created by years of this kind of thing makes true meekness seem as unreal as a dream, as aloof as a star. To all the victims of the gnawing disease Jesus says, `Ye must become as little children.' For little children do not compare; they receive direct enjoyment from what they have without relating it to something else or someone else. Only as they get older and sin begins to stir within their hearts do jealousy and envy appear. Then they are unable to enjoy what they have if someone else has something larger or better. At that early age does the galling burden come down upon their tender souls, and it never leaves them till Jesus sets them free.
Another source of burden is artificially. I am sure that most people live in secret fear that some day they will be careless and by chance an enemy or friend will be allowed to peep into their poor empty souls. So they are never relaxed. Bright people are tense and alert in fear that they may be trapped into saying something common or stupid. Travelled people are afraid that they may meet some Marco Polo who is able to describe some remote place where they have never been.
This unnatural condition is part of our sad heritage of sin, but in our day it is aggravated by our whole way of life. Advertising is largely based upon this habit of pretence. `Courses' are offered in this or that field of human learning frankly appealing to the victim's desire to shine at a party. Books are sold, clothes and cosmetics are peddled, by playing continually upon this desire to appear what we are not. Artificiality is one curse that will drop away the moment we kneel at Jesus' feet and surrender ourselves to His meekness. Then we will not care what people think of us so long as God is pleased. Then what we are will be everything; what we appear will take its place far down the scale of interest for us. Apart from sin we have nothing of which to be ashamed. Only an evil desire to shine makes us want to appear other than we are.The heart of the world is breaking under this load of pride and pretence. There is no release from our burden apart from the meekness of Christ. Good keen reasoning may help slightly, but so strong is this vice that if we push it down one place it will come up somewhere else. To men and women everywhere Jesus says, `Come unto me, and I will give you rest.' The rest He offers is the rest of meekness, the blessed relief which comes when we accept ourselves for what we are and cease to pretend. It will take some courage at first, but the needed grace will come as we learn that we are sharing this new and easy yoke with the strong Son of God Himself. He calls it `my yoke,' and He walks at one end while we walk at the other. Lord, make me childlike. Deliver me from the urge to compete with another for place or prestige or position. I would be simple and artless as a little child. Deliver me from pose and pretence. Forgive me for thinking of myself. Help me to forget myself and find my true peace in beholding Thee. That Thou mayest answer this prayer I humble myself before Thee. Lay upon me Thy easy yoke of self-forgetfulness that through it I may find rest. Amen.
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