His and our attribute

At times we discuss attributes that we must have to progress in the kingdom of God, but we limit the conversation to us and forget that God also holds the fullness of those attributes. I will review scripture and latter-day prophet’s words on meekness to see if we can understand God’s meekness. In a later post, we will examine what the perfected attribute of meekness implies about our relationship with him.

Jesus’ Meekness

In John 13:4-9, we read a clear example of Christ at his meekest. He has guided his disciples through legions of followers and entered Jerusalem to fanfare, which must have strengthened the disciples’ belief in Him as their Leader, King, and God. They are with him at what we call the last supper, and at this moment, Jesus “rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” In a grand and honest display of meekness, He showed his disciples respect and reverence. He respected them as the men they could be and gave them the power that comes from being in the presence of the genuinely meek - the confidence of belief and wisdom.

We then come to the interaction between Peter and Jesus. Peter, feeling the confidence that comes from being in the presence of meekness, wonders why the Lord, the King of Israel, would wash his feet and tells Jesus, ‘You will never wash my feet;’ to which Jesus responds, ‘If I do not wash you, then you have no inheritance with me.’ Jesus, in His meekest, empowered Peter to communicate in confidence, and Jesus responded to that confidence with clarity and directness in meekness.

Being in the presence of the meekness of Jesus empowered Peter to make such a statement as ‘You will never wash my feet.’ What disciple tells his master such a statement? Maybe most of His disciples. Being in the presence of His meekness, we might be overwhelmed with at least one of a few emotions that could prompt us to respond as Peter. Two that come to mind:

1. The empowering confidence of His meek presence would prompt us to believe that we are heard and that our voice matters. It may even inspire us to think that our voice matters the most.
2. The wonder of how He could be so faithful to us. We would not want to believe it and might even doubt its reality. We would cry, ‘You will never wash me.’

Being in the presence of meekness can help us learn to be meek. However, we must walk the strait gate and narrow way using the purity of wonder and empowerment to understand meekness. Somehow, we must not believe the extreme of either emotion. By holding onto empowered confidence and faithful wonder, we can balance on such a narrow way that leads unto life eternal. We can follow the invitation of Christ to be ‘meek and lowly in heart’ as He is.

Now that we have seen an example of meekness let’s try to describe it in greater detail.

The meekness bouquet

The word meek often appears near a few other empowering yet sacrificial words. We could imagine them like a bouquet of words that are necessary to describe meekness. Meekness is not an isolated attribute but an attribute that is the aggregate of many other emotions¹. These words include wisdom, purity, peaceable, gentleness, entreatable, merciful, persuasive, long-suffering, love, and knowledge, along with an equally long list of negation attributes. James 3, D&C 121, and Moroni 7 provide much of the context for this bouquet of words. Also, I will use Elder Maxwell’s two speeches at BYU in the 1980s where he offers compelling descriptions of meekness (The two talks overlap heavily). Finally, Elder Bednar recently provided his insights on meekness in April 2018. I have pulled a few key quotes from each speech that highlight the attribute of meekness.

• Neal A. Maxwell, ‘Meekly Drenched in Destiny’
• Neal A. Maxwell, ‘Meek and Lowly’
• David A. Bednar, Meek and Lowly of Heart

I am sure that none of the referenced quotes and scriptures are new to anyone. I have read them and pondered how they could help me be a better person many times over the years. In this post, I want to use the descriptions to describe His perfected attribute of meekness. I hope that we can see how this perfected attribute can provide insight into all the other characteristics of God. At the end of this post, I have included the references and quotes that were used to build my description of the meekness of God.

The meekness of God

Meekness is an attribute of God that gives Him the restrained active strength so that He can use His wisdom from above as a pure, gentle, and merciful God. He will always speak up, but never speak down to us. Because of His meekness, He is open to our earnest petitions and will modestly, graciously, and discreetly support us in our journey. As the holder of perfected meekness, he will be patient with our learning, and He will sincerely share all that He can with any that desire. As He shares His truths, he will be gentle, kind, and loving. His long-suffering will allow us to find truth by persuasion instead of force.

His power and influence in our lives and the universe come as He takes the role of initiator, facilitator, and consolidator. He does not need to be a dictator, manipulator, or discourager. He is willing to take all suffering in kindness and without provocation. He understands that he does not need to manipulate others to choose the truth as manipulation is about envy, arrogance, and self-promotion.

This meekness that enlarges His soul in purity readily acknowledges the accomplishments of others as He esteems others better than Himself. He is receptive to learning from His children, who are less capable, less experienced, and less educated. He knows that they have much to contribute. He knows that it is His meekness that will give His children the ability to present themselves in a posture of kindness and gentleness, reflecting certitude, strength, and serenity. His meekness will help them have healthy self-esteem and self-control.

He is filled with awe and wonder at our growth and the influence of that growth in the universe. He is not tentative, but thoughtful. He is more concerned with our willingness to take him by his loving hand and less concerned about us taking Him for granted. He knows that meekness is not about being doormats for others; it is about being the passage for others. He wants us to be one, and he wants us to move our labels from doormat to kings, queens, leaders, and winners. He is helping all to know that We are powerful, responsible, peaceable, and attentive.

We, like Peter, must find balance in our attribute of meekness as we feel His meekness. Meekness is the attribute that aggregates power, righteousness, and humility into a force that moves our lives and the universe.

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Quotes and References

James 3:13-18

In James 3: 13-18 we read;

Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

D&C 121: 41-42

In D&C 121: 41-42 we read;

No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile

Moroni 7: 42-47

In Moroni 7: 42-47

Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope. And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart. If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity. And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

The meekness speeches

• Neal A. Maxwell, ‘Meekly Drenched in Destiny’
• Neal A. Maxwell, ‘Meek and Lowly’
• David A. Bednar, Meek and Lowly of Heart

Bednar (Meek and Lowly of Heart)

Meekness—a Christlike Attribute and a Spiritual Gift

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Meekness is strong, not weak; active, not passive; courageous, not timid; restrained, not excessive; modest, not self-aggrandizing; and gracious, not brash. A meek person is not easily provoked, pretentious, or overbearing and readily acknowledges the accomplishments of others.

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Whereas humility generally denotes dependence upon God and the constant need for His guidance and support, a distinguishing characteristic of meekness is a particular spiritual receptivity to learning both from the Holy Ghost and from people who may seem less capable, experienced, or educated, who may not hold important positions, or who otherwise may not appear to have much to contribute.

Maxwell (Meek and Lowly)

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.

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The Father and our Savior desire to lead us through love, for if we were merely driven where They wish us to go, we would not be worthy to be there, and, surely, we could not stay there.

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Meekness, however, is more than self-restraint; it is the presentation of self in a posture of kindness and gentleness, reflecting certitude, strength, serenity, and a healthy self-esteem and self-control.

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Meekness does not mean tentativeness. But thoughtfulness. Meekness makes room for others: “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” (Philip. 2:3.)

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The meek use power and authority properly, no doubt because their gentleness and meekness reflect a love unfeigned, a genuine caring. The influence they exercise flows from a deep concern: “No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned.” (D&C 121:41.)

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The attainment of your full possibilities will depend, as with all of us, on your developing adequately the eternal and cardinal attributes, including meekness!

Maxwell (Meekly Drenched in Destiny)

The Greek rendition of the word meek in the New Testament, by the way, is gentle and humble.

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In the ecology of the eternal attributes these cardinal characteristics are inextricably bound up together. Among them, meekness is often the initiator, the facilitator, and the consolidator.

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The meek are filled with awe and wonder with regard to God and His purposes in the universe.

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Meekness means less concern over being taken for granted and more concern over being taken by the hand.

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Meekness does not mean tentativeness, but thoughtfulness. Meekness makes room for others: “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves” (Philippians 2:3).

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But even when the meek speak up, they do so without speaking down.

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