“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5)
When you examine most successful professional golfers’ careers, you notice that they have golf courses or regions of the country where they fare better than others. Sam Snead won the Greater Greensboro Open eight times. Tiger Woods has accomplished this same feat at two different tour stops. Sure, these two winningest players of all time are going to have tournaments they win a lot just based on mathematics; however, look at players like Mark O’Meara and Davis Love III, who were victorious at Pebble Beach and Hilton Head, respectively, five times each. That is a huge percentage of their total career wins at one place.
As the saying goes, there are horses for courses.
You may not play at an elite or even competitive level, but I have a feeling you have a course or two where you tend to play better than others. We may not all have golf writers or analysts referring to us as “horses for courses,” but we all can aspire to have certain characteristics of a horse—particularly that of a war horse trained for battle.
We find one such characteristic listed as a fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) called meekness (or, in other translations, gentleness). Unfortunately, the meaning of the word has devolved over time and been lost in translation. Our modern English definitions for meekness imply a gentleness that is easily imposed on by others. We often see meekness as weakness; however, the Greek word used by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount had a much different meaning.
Jesus did not lack strength or confidence; rather, he used powerful restraint because of his willingness to submit to the will of his heavenly Father.Praeis/praus [Greek] was a term used to define a war horse trained for battle. A horse that had been “meeked” retained its fierce spirit, courage, and power, but was disciplined to use its strength with restraint and poise under the most intense circumstances. This is a fruit that Jesus desires to produce in us. He said, “A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40, NASB). As he is training us into his likeness, meekness is a quality we should see manifesting itself.
Jesus did not lack strength or confidence; rather, he used powerful restraint because of his willingness to submit to the will of his heavenly Father. That is true meekness.
The Greek philosopher Aristotle taught his students that “the praus person is one who has the virtue of the mean between two extremes.” Following Jesus often seems extreme, but when it comes to meekness, we do well to view it as stewarding our inner strength.
Human tendency is to respond by fight or flight when facing difficult circumstances, but God offers a third option—trusting him. We all know life is full of challenges. That does not change because we follow Jesus. He does not make life’s course easier; instead, Jesus equips us to deal with it gracefully.
May the Holy Spirit grow in you true meekness and train you to be a horse for all the courses of life. After all, the meek will inherit the earth.
—
Josh Nelson
March 16, 2020
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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