Scripture Study: Meekness

Today I decided to study the attribute of meekness.  This particular virtue seems to be very misunderstood in the world today.  In a culture of selfishness and pride, meekness is mocked and thought to be that of weakness.  There is a trend of entitlement, and at the base of entitlement lies the thought of "what's in it for me?".  I found this quote that wraps up the word meek in a nice little package:

"Being meek does not mean weakness, but it does mean behaving with goodness and kindness, showing strength, serenity, healthy self-worth, and self-control. The humble are meek and have the ability to influence others to be the same. God's promise to the humble is that He will lead them by the hand." -Elder Ulisses Soares

I especially like the part about self-control.  It takes more self-control to not have an ego. It takes self-control to respond with love and gentleness.  Meekness is not weakness, it is strength.  It is essential. In an address to BYU in 1983, Neal A. Maxwell says:

"Meekness is not an attribute which is essential only in itself, said Moroni. It is also vital because one cannot develop those other crucial virtues—faith, hope, and charity—without meekness." 

The Greek rendition of the word meek in the New Testament, is “gentle and humble.” Possessing humility allows for us to be able to see our own need for a Savior.  It increases our faith and hope in the Savior's atonement because we desire to perfect ourselves through that atonement.  We recognize our need to be cleansed.  Isn't it interesting that the cleansing process is also a humbling process. The more we strive for perfection (through repentance) the more we see our imperfection.  Thus, we are humbled and cleansed and our faith, hope, and charity is increased.  Neal A. Maxwell goes on to say: 

"Agency is essential to perfectibility, and meekness is essential to the wise use of agency—and to our recovery when we have misused our agency.

God’s refusal to conform mankind by His sheer power reflects not only the gentleness of our Father in Heaven but also His desires to preserve our free agency. Just as agency is essential to perfectibility, so meekness is essential to agency."

Last week, I studied the word obedience.  As I studied meekness, I kept thinking about it in conjunction with obedience. When we are meek and humble, we are more willing to obey. We step out of our own way and see that our Heavenly Father's way is better than our way. Because our faith and our hope has increased, our eyes are opened to the knowledge that our Father in Heaven loves us and wants us to obey so that we can blessed.  The meek are teachable.  And through obedience, or the proper use of agency, the mysteries of God are unfolded.   

Sometimes, the reasons for obeying are clear to us.  Sometimes they are not.  And, yet, the meek still obey.  

"Meekness rests on trust and courage. It is reflected in Nephi’s meek acceptance of an assignment, saying, “I will go and do …” (1 Ne. 3:7) without knowing beforehand all the implications of what he was undertaking."

The willingness to "go and do" takes courage, not weakness.  It takes trust in God.  Again, God's promise to the meek is that He will lead them by the hand.

When I am out driving and another driver does something rude, it is easy for me to become angry or annoyed very fast.  I have wondered why it is that way. Jon Mark has said that it is because people don't see the car and the person, they just see the car.  It is easy to be rude behind the wheel or get upset at rudeness because we completely objectify the situation. We live in a world of objectification. Social media makes it easy to objectify people.  A Facebook post or Twitter post is a post. Commentators say vicious words in relation to posts.  Hate and anger run rampant on the internet. People say things in the comment sections to posts that they would never say face to face.  I wonder, sometimes if it is because the virtual world sets the stage for objectification.  What does this have to do with meekness???  Consider these words from Neal A. Maxwell in the same address:

"Meekness permits us to be prompted as to whether to speak out or, as Jesus once did, be silent. But even when the meek speak up, they do so without speaking down."

Sometimes, I don't know when I should speak up (kindly) or remain silent.  For me, knowing what to do is achieved best when I reflect upon my motives behind doing either option. Am I commenting out of selfish desire to be right?  Is my ego getting in my way?  Or, am I commenting out of genuine concern for another, and am I able to do so in a respectful and loving manner?  Am I staying silent out of fear?  Or, am I staying silent because commenting would just stir up feelings of anger and contempt? "But, even when the meek speak up, they do so without speaking down."

One of my favorite hymns is, More Holiness Give Me.  There is a line in that song that says,

More fit for the kingdom,

More used would I be,

More blessed and holy--

More, Savior, like thee.

A meek person desires to be used by our Heavenly Father to further His work.  The meek also recognize that service in the Kingdom of God fits us to be more holy and blessed, and more like our Savior.  We covenant to be like Him.  To take His name upon us.  We covenant that we are willing to give back to the Lord all that we have been blessed with.  

I will conclude this posting with these final words from that address:

"It is meekness, therefore, which helps us to step gratefully forward to place on the altar the talents and time and self with which we are blessed—to be at God’s and His children’s disposal. The offering is of a gentled self, a self concerned with charity—not parity."