IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 731

ON LOVE; PART CCCXX

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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humble in thought, lowly of heart in attitude and meek in action

• humble in our thoughts, to seek no advantage and to not glory in any that we may have.
• lowly of heart in our attitude which word we should understand as more than our thoughts but as our general manner, our disposition towards ALL things and ALL others; a disposition that says that we ARE neither better nor worse, we ARE, despite ALL appearances, essentially the SAME.
• meek in action which we should be in ALL things that we do and which can be seen as the outward expression of our thoughts and attitudes above.

In the last essay we continued our look at the idea here at the top of our essay. We discussed how humble IS more than just the absence of pride but the general view of one’s own Life as well although we did not frame it this way but rather pointed out the effect of one’s less than humble view, where there is that conscious effort by a man to look good before his peers and to so organize his Life that he might even appear better and this is of course from a purely carnal perspective. We also reminded ourselves that the idea of peers is relative to one’s own socioeconomic position and that one would tend to compare himself to his neighbors, relatives, co-workers and those who attend the same church or club. There is a relationship between these ideas and the idea of covetousness as written in scripture which is seen as by some as wanting that which another has as this IS the context in which this is presented in the Old Testament where it is written as: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s” (Exodus 20:17). In the New Testament however there IS a clearer vision of this idea as we read the Master’s words saying; “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Luke 12:15); here the picture is more related to wanting and although our ideas on humble are not in His words, we can see them clearly if we try as this wanting to be as or better than one’s peers. We can also see this idea in the words of the Apostle Paul who tells us, quoting the law, that: “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said , Thou shalt not covet” (Romans 7:7). We can say then that in this idea of humble from the view of our desire to be better than another in most any way, that we have a view also of covetousness which end result is that one would glory in those things he has which IS pride. Also, would not covet be as we see this above in wanting to have more and better. It is the opposite of these things then that IS humble.

Looking at our next point which we see as our attitude, our disposition in life regarding this idea of being humble, as we define it here as being without pride and without any sense of wanting, of coveting, position or things so that one can appear better among his peers, and then more. “Lowly in heart” IS, as we explained over the last few posts, our overall view of ourselves as compared to others and here we should see more than just peers but a view that reaches to ALL corners of humanity, all levels of living and all rungs on the socioeconomic ladder. But more, “lowly in heart” IS effectively that attitude of a man who DOES NOT compare as ALL; it IS an attitude of equanimity. This IS after ALL a characteristic of the very Nature of the Christ as He tells us of Himself that: “I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29) and it IS based in the Master’s understanding that despite His superior appearance and ability, both spiritual and in the world, that He is not better than any but is as of as “low degree” as any other man. The Master here sees through the glamour and the illusion of life in this world, He understands that mankind IS “made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope” (Romans 8:20) and He understands that it IS NOT the phenomenal appearance of man in the world that IS of matter but that it IS the Inner man, the Soul, that is the Truth of Life and that by the Plan of God as noted in Paul’s words here there is that hope, rather that expectation, that even the apparently lowest of the low “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). These things the Master KNOWS and these things the Master teaches and commands in His many words and parables as spread across the gospels. This idea of “lowly in heart” IS a very important thing for us to understand and it IS a requirement for those seeking the Truth of discipleship; it IS as we have said, it IS the very Nature of the Christ and thereby of the Christ Within as well and is a part of that full expression of the Love and the Power of the Soul which we will find in that state of perfection that we must achieve through our struggles in Life in this world. It is the opposite view that MUST be overcome by the inflowing of the Light of the Soul and in this attitude IS a great step toward our own ability to say with the Master “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Of course we should not forget here that this IS also a part of Jesus instructions to us as He says in this same saying where we learn of His Nature that we should “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” (Matthew 11:28-30). These ARE His instructions; to come to Him, to join ourselves to Him which IS to take His yoke, and to learn of His ways and His precepts which include these ideas of “meek and lowly in heart“, and this is as we have been discussing over the last few posts.

Finally we return to the idea of being meek which IS the word that brought us to this topic a few posts back. As we have discussed, meekness IS a much misunderstood word and the common understanding of meek today borders on cowardly. This IS not of course the idea that we should take from the New Testament and especially from the Master’s use of this word to define His own Nature and characteristics. The Greek word praus that is rendered here as meek IS rendered as gentle and as mild in other versions but these ideas DO NOT give the needed force for use as the Nature of the Christ. We should note as well that there IS something special about this word praus as it is found in the Beatitudes; that when the Master says “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5) that He is referencing more than gentle and mild as the reward IS great although little understood. We should note as well that Paul uses both of these word together to define the fruits of the Spirit as he says: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23). Can we understand our point here? Vine’s tells us that: the meaning of prautes “is not readily expressed in English, for the terms meekness, mildness, commonly used, suggest weakness and pusillanimity to a greater or less extent, whereas prautes does nothing of the kind ⁶. Vincent tells us this: The Christian word, on the contrary, describes an inward quality, and that as related primarily to God. The equanimity, mildness, kindness, represented by the classical word, are founded in self-control or in natural disposition. The Christian meekness is based on humility, which is not a natural quality but an outgrowth of a renewed nature ⁴. In the combination of these ideas along with the context of its usage and our understanding of the word from our older dictionaries which tell us that meek means: Mild of temper; soft; gentle; not easily provoked or irritated; yielding; given to forbearance under injuries ¹, we find our own reality of this word which we have stated many times. Our understanding of this most important quality of the aspirant and the disciple is simply put as positive harmlessness and humble restraint and both of these exemplify the Nature of the Master. In the lesson that we learn in those sayings by the Master that are akin to “That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:39) we should see this reality of meek as being that when we have the power to overcome, to retaliate or to take advantage, that we do not, we stand as Paul instructs us saying: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free , and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1) and other like sayings. 

We find this word in the Old Testament as well; we find it used of Moses in the saying that: “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3) and here too the understanding is not sufficient to the power of the man who acted as Jehovah’s surrogate and with tremendous Power. Here meek is rendered from the Hebrew word `anav which Strong’s tells us means: humble, afflicted, poor, oppressed ³ and of which the lexicon gives us: poor, humble, afflicted, meek poor, needy; poor and weak; poor, weak and afflicted; humble, lowly, meek ²*. It is hard to find the man Moses in any of these ideas save humble which is alternately used to render this Hebrew word. Speaking of the Master the Prophet Zechariah says: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout , O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation ; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass” (Zechariah 9:9) where the word rendered above as meek is seen here as lowly and we should note here that when this IS repeated in Matthew’s Gospel, it is again rendered as meek saying: “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” (Matthew 21:5). By ALL that we have here and in previous essays about this word rendered as meek, we should be able to see at least the confusion and at best that short of our own understandings there is little that is said in the various dictionary and scriptural guides that matches the Truth of the man Moses and our Master, the Christ.

Having said this we close this segment on our threefold idea of humble in thought, lowly of heart in attitude and meek in action by repeating what we said a regarding the idea of meek and the interrelationship of the three and we remind ourselves that these are ALL a part of the Love that we must express to ALL; in this Love as the Master teaches us we ARE humble and we ARE lowly in heart and we are as well the resultant action of being meek. Our previous words are:

Meek then is harmlessness and restraint in ALL dealings with others and again, this must become the natural disposition of the man who desires spiritual advancement. In previous essays we looked at meek from the perspective that it IS a conscious endeavor to NOT act as the man in the world but as the Soul whose nature IS Love. We have said that this attitude of positive harmlessness and self-control IS meekness. Similarly we have the idea of humble restraint which is also a conscious endeavor and which should give us the understanding that when pressed as a man in the world to a point of retaliation of any kind, the meek man steps back and goes his way without much ado; here we have the understanding that although one can take action, he DOES NOT. This should be rather clear but it IS incomplete and today we have added the extra emphasis of natural disposition; that while we may start on this road to meekness by way of self-control and conscious endeavor, we must come to that point and that perspective where this becomes one’s natural disposition in the world of men. It IS in this that we see the True roles of being  humble and “lowly in heart” as without these characteristics in thought and attitude which ARE a part of that Love that is expressed to ALL without any “respect of persons“, it is not likely that one can be meek in his relations to others.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

Aspect of God	Potency	Aspect of Man	In Relation to the Great Invocation	In relation to the Christ
GOD, The Father	Will or Power	Spirit or Life	Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN	Life
Son, The Christ	Love and Wisdom	Soul or Christ Within	Heart of God	Truth
Holy Spirit	Light or Activity	Life Within	Mind of God	Way

Note on the Quote of the Day

This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.

May the Power of the One True God flow through His group of all true servers;

May the Love of the Christ characterize the lives of all who seek to aid in His work;

May I fulfill my part in the one work through self-forgetfulness, harmlessness and right speech

(Evening Reflection)

Today’s Quote of the Day is a repeat of a previous quote and is also featured in our Prayers and Meditations section with some additional comments regarding it. It appears today again because is sets in order our understanding that it is the Power of God that flows through those that serve Him and in this Power is the Love that can heal. When the Love of the Christ can become the character of one’s Life then this Power can be made available in a predictable way and the precepts of the last line will become our mode of conduct.

This is a prayer for the Power of God to be made available to all who seek to serve Him; in this Power is the Wisdom, the Understanding and the personal strength that we need to properly serve the Lord. It is a prayer also that asks that all who serve the Lord be imbued with His Love, Christ’ Love, which defines the truth of our service to Him. And it is a prayer that, on a personal level, reminds us of our responsibilities in service which are summarized in the three words: self-forgetfulness, harmlessness and right speech.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ¹ Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
• ²  New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• ²* Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• ³ Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
• ⁶ Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 1996