SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/25/2025 10:55 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“A Humble Spirit”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 Timothy
2:25a
Message of the verse: “with gentleness”
I begin by quoting from MacArthur’s commentary on 2
Timothy as he talks about the word “Prautes
(gentleness) can also be rendered ‘meekness.’ In the ancient Greek world the word was used
of colts that were broken for riding. In
such training, care must be taken to bring the animal’s will into submission to
the rider without breaking its energetic and lively spirit. Contrary to the connotation that ‘meekness’
often caries today prautes has no
relation to weakness by denotes power that is under willing control.”
I think that it is good to understand the meaning of this
word, for like MacArthur’s says it is a word that is misunderstood in today’s
world.
We only have to go to our Lord Jesus Christ when He was
on planet earth to find that He is the supreme example of being meek. MacArthur
writes “In the two passages already cited referring to His manner, the adjective
praus describes Him as gentle or meek
(Matt. 11:29; 21:15). Although He was
God incarnate, and at any moment could have destroyed His enemies with a word
or had at His ‘disposal more than twelve legions of angels’ (Matt. 26:53), He
chose rather to submit to every
indignity, because that was His Father’s will for Him in His incarnation.”
So the question arises how about believers, how do they
follow this example of Christ? Believers
are to do it in a similar, but much more limited degree, the faithful
bond-servant of Jesus Christ who has great strength of conviction, and who may
have leadership authority in the church, willingly expresses and defends his
convictions and exercises his authority in a spirit of gentleness. The truth is that truly meek person is
submissive as a matter of choice, but he wants to obey his Master and to be
like Him.
John MacArthur quotes from a book that he had written
entitled Kingdom Living Here and Now:
“Jesus
never defended Himself, but when they desecrated His Father’s Timple, He made a
whip and beat them. Meekness says, ‘I’ll
never defend myself, but I’ll die defending God.’ Twice Jesus cleansed the Temple. He blasted the hypocrites. He condemned false leaders of Israel. He fearlessly uttered divine judgment upon
people. And yet the Bible says He was
meek. [For the Christian, therefore],
meekness is power used only in the defense of God )[Chicago: Moody, 1980], 79).
I have heard that a good definition of meekness is “power
under control,” and that certainly describes our Lord Jesus Christ.
MacArthur concludes “The prautes kind go gentleness reflects a spirit of humility that does
not focus on self but on the Lord and on others in His name. It has nothing to do with impotence or
shyness or weakness or cowardice. It is
power supplied by, and willingly put under the control of, the Holy Spirit, in
faithful submission to the Word and will of God. When one is truly meek, he talks not of
himself but of his Lord.”
Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today: This is one
of those SD’s that steps on my toes, a lot.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Humility!
3/25/2025 11:23 AM
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