We recently received an email from a new customer of Abunga who wrote a very nice note about us in an email he sends out. I hope you find it as encouraging as we did.
Enjoy!
- Gavin
Meek versus Weak
For way too long I believed in the underlying misconception that meek was synonymous with weak, but as we all know – it really isn’t. Actually to be characterized as being meek is defined as one being humble, gentle, modest, compliant, and unassuming. Yet, nowhere have I found that it also means to be weak in any form, or fashion. I think too many people in the world gets the wrong impression that someone who is totally dependant upon God is also a person of great weakness. Rather, I like to think of it as just being really smart, don’t you?
In Zephaniah 3:12 His word says “But I will leave within you the meek and humble, who trust only in the Lord.” Hey, that’s good enough for me!
The reason I believe so many folks think of followers of Christ as being weak with a lack of self-worth and confidence is that they mistakenly think of Jesus himself as being weak because of his teachings on meekness. Maybe they chose to simply overlook the evidence of his actions while on earth in order to derive at this conclusion. Weak people can’t heal the sick, raise the dead, still the seas, feed the multitudes, clear a temple, or stand up to the beatings and torture He endured. Yet he proved that someone with true meek-like characteristics most certainly could. Within the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew we find everything we need to know about the eternal rewards for such lifestyles.
Starting in verse 44 Jesus tells us “Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.”
This scripture comes from the same setting as His teachings on the concept of turning the other cheek, and giving over one’s cloak to those that ask for our tunics. All acts of weakness as defined by our world! But, let’s be honest here, only loving those that have already shown they love us first is about all some of us can muster up in this cruel and insensitive world, isn’t it?
Last week I saw meekness in action and I don’t know about you, but I love the beauty of this when it becomes visual, and no longer just a concept or theory. Back in November of last year two very smart business men with true Christian values, (Lee Martin and Steve Slack) expanded their companies by launching an on-line bookstore throughout the world that rivals the likes of Amazon.com. And up to this point they seem to be doing quite well. The thing that I love the most about their company is that they give a good portion of their profits over to charitable groups to help feed and care for the poor and needy. The niche they fill is that they offer the only true family-friendly on-line bookstore in the secular marketplace.
What they don’t do is allow indecent or pornographic material to be sold alongside small children’s books, the latest Harry Potter series, or copies of the Bible. As a matter of fact they’ve gone as far as to allow their customers the ability to help monitor their inventory of millions of books and other media by identifying offensive material. As I understand it, their plan works as follows; if they get a number of complaints about a particular item they will review the validity of the issues and if warranted they’ll simply pull it from their electronic shelves – thus staying true to their commitment to be family-friendly. Sounds like a reasonable objective for a respectable company, wouldn’t you agree?
Well, maybe to you and I it does, but to those that don’t care much about human decency or what gross illustrations of filth children and adults alike can innocently stumble upon it’s seen as an atrocity to the liberty and freedom of mankind. As it turns out a group of self-proclaimed Atheist and Agnostics became so outraged over this idea they began disrupting the business ofwww.abunga.com website by going on-line posing as legitimate customers and started a process of trying to get all Christian-based books (including the Bible) banned from their site. Some of these very crafty and cunning people went as far as to write rouge programs to infiltrate the website to begin shutting down their services. How ridiculous!
Yet, what was most interesting to me was that Lee and Steve have merely stayed focused on their mission and haven’t become sidetracked by the unjust actions of those that want to persecute them, and their values. Now, this situation may seem very simple when condensed into my writing here, but trust me when I tell you we’re talking about millions of dollars and the livelihoods of many Christian families at stake here. Let me ask you, If your job or career all of a sudden became “at risk” because of someone’s false statements, and/or underhanded actions, how easy would it be to stand by without striking back at those that chose to become your enemy? If your ability to feed your family, make your mortgage payment, or pay rent on your apartment was jeopardized by someone that you never intended on doing business with in the first place merely because you decided to conduct yourself in a dignified and respectable manner, wouldn’t it just be natural to attack your attacker?
For Lee and Steve I guess the decision as to how they would handle this situation was made simpler by their stanch belief that the characteristics Jesus proclaimed as blessed in what we’ve come to know as the Sermon on the Mount is what separates a true disciple from those that believe his teachings were nothing more than good guidelines to live by. But to balance out the rhetoric these folks are throwing around myself, as well as some other Christian writers (including my friend Rhonda Jones-Sparks) went to the internet source of this despicable process and posted our own viewpoints on the shameful acts of the cowards that would attack these innocent and decent efforts to protect family values.
To detest and object to the sin, yet continue to love the sinner is not the easiest thing to do sometimes, but it’s what we are called to do as disciples.
I admit meekness is something that I need to work on more, but now when it comes to weakness I believe I’ve got it down pat. I often show weakness in my lack of dedication to my prayer life and my ability to carry out all the things I’ve been called to do, such as feeding the hungry and helping the poor. I show weakness when I become weary of listening to the problems of others, or when I no longer feel the urge to stop and help a stranded motorist I see along the roadways. I’m thankful though that I amweak yet He is strong has become my Life’s statement!
Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed my weaknesses have progressed, and I’ve felt called to do something about it. Last week I planned to fast and pray for forty-eight hours but by Tuesday I had come down with some flu-like symptoms, (talk about the ploys of the enemy). Yet, I stayed true to my plan and fought off the temptation to scratch the idea of fasting and dedicated prayer. I decided to simply trust that the Lord would take care of me. Trust in the Lord – just like the good folks at Abungaare doing. Let me tell you, by Friday morning I felt stronger spiritually than I have in a long time, and only then did I realize just how worn down and un-meekly I had become the past few weeks. I’ve found over and over this to be true – He is our strength in times of weakness, and will carry us through all situations. This doesn’t mean that we’ll have less times of weakness or face less problems than non-believers, but merely that we can have the confidence that we can overcome all trials, temptations, and tribulations because He is our source of strength.
In my past I never really envisioned the Apostle Paul as being a meekly type of person because I bought into the misconception that weakness was a defining characteristic of a meek person, but this was simply wrong on my part. When you think in terms of unassuming, compliancy, and modesty as being true characteristics of a meek person then you can begin to see Paul in this light.
2 Corinthians 10:1 “By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” when away! I stand in the name of the LORD.” “I stand in the name of the Lord” – or in other words, I am meek, yet not weak because of the strength He provides me/you/us!
When we hear stories stemming from the good intentions like that of the folks at Abunga (which simply want to promote Christ-like ideas through their means of business) being attacked it is our duty as fellow-believers to support them. And as long as they have God’s sovereignty and righteousness to defend them, and other believers supporting their business they have nothing to worry about when it comes to those that choose to attack them. Thank God for He is a mighty fortress, and a strong tower of refuge for the meek.
doug
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