Meekness, Gentleness and the Storage Pit, NT!

I am writing to you from beautiful Williamsburg, VA. I am most grateful that Chris Hughes and Pastor Van have been writing this week so that I could take a break. Thanks, guys!

I would like to ask the Freedom Fighter family to be in prayer for singer/missionary, Bobby Michaels. Bobby has been a faithful friend for well over 20+ years. Bobby and Lee have been in Cambodia on a short-term missions trip, and Bobby had a massive heart attack and had to be resuscitated several times. He is in critical condition. Would you please life Bobby and Lee up to the throne of grace.

If you'd like to send them a note, reply to the Freedom Fighter and I will forward it to them. Thanks.

Meekness, Gentleness and the Storage Pit, NT!

“Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ,- I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent! I ask that when I am present I may not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh.”
2 Corinthians 10:1-2(NASB)

Yesterday I told you about the notes I found in, what I call, the Storage Pit. Our family has a spot on our property where we store what we would like to keep and probably what we should say a fond farewell to. I shared with you some of what was on the notes that I had taken on gentleness and meekness from the Old Testament. Today it is the New Testament’s turn.

As I read through the rest of these notes on gentleness and meekness I found myself writing down different versions to the first part of the aforementioned verse’s. The CEV puts the first verse like this, “Do you think I am a coward when I am with you and brave when I am far away? Well I ask you to listen because Christ Himself was humble and gentle.” The NRSV put it this way, “I myself, Paul, appeal to you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ-I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away.”

Now stop the presses for a moment here. Now I know why I had to go over this subject while in the colony. And why I struggle with it today. The old man in me is completely vexed by the notion of being bold or brave while off in the distance and humble and meek when face to face. I was an “in-your –face”, ready to go toe-to-toe with anyone and a “you better pack a lunch” kind of man B.C. (before Christ). Now the man A.C. (after Christ) has to…I say it again…has to own up to his weakness so that Jesus Christ can show His strength. As I wrote in my colony notes, “And I have found throughout the New Testament the words gentle, meek and humble is a man named Jesus and He was a rebel to the everyday of His time. But I did not find the word “weak” when it came to Christ Himself.” Jesus was a rebel? That I can respect and that’s what caught my attention to the work that was done on the Cross.

“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5 (KJV)
The famous “Sermon on the Mount” was directed to His disciples and not to the multitudes. Not that they could not have a seat and listen but Jesus meant this to be for the regenerated believer. Someone who’s faith would be based on the Word of God and His work of redemption.

Right now I am studying the church at Corinth. This city was known for its vices and wicked ways throughout the Roman Empire. After all it was a port city and I am finding that Paul had to defend his ministry all the time. After all, he was a “in-your-face” zealot who, at one time, wanted Christians dead. It must have vexed the many who listened to him preach Christ crucified and Christ-likeness to their faces and then expressing his anger towards the false apostle’s and the heresy of their teachings by letters sent from abroad.

But want to know something? It sounds like they waited for him to leave before they disagreed with him. After leaving Galatia, Jewish Christians began to undermine Paul’s teaching by merging Jewish law and Jewish customs into it and calling it the true way. Maybe this is why he wrote this to the Galatians from abroad. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such there is no law” Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

I finished the page by saying, “No matter how I cut it, God wants us to be gentle, humble, meek-KITTY KAT (with retracted claws)- for there is no wrong in it or any law against it. It is a lifelong way of being for a true believer. Those words have rung true for a long time before me or before anything I could trace on a family tree. But for today I praise God that He is using me to put some fruit on that tree now. Thank you Jesus!! -- Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy.

God's WORD for YOU: Proverbs 24; Joshua 16-18; Luke 2:1-24

Great Quote: Obedience to God's Will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight. It is not willingness to know, but willingness to do God's Will that brings certainty. Eric Liddell