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One of my heroes is the late preacher of Westminster Chapel in London, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981). And one of the books that has left an indelible mark on me is his Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. Here is an excerpt from the good doctor's exposition of Matthew 5:5, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

"Then let me go further; the man who is meek is not even sensitive about himself. He is not always watching himself and his own interests. He is not always on the defensive. We all know about this, do we not? Is it not one of the greatest curses in life as a result of the fall--this sensitivity about self? We spend the whole of our lives watching ourselves. But when a man becomes meek he has finished with all of that; he no longer worries about himself and what other people say. To be truly meek means we no longer protect ourselves, because we see there is nothing worth defending. So we are not on the defensive; all that is gone. The man who is truly meek never pities himself, he is never sorry for himself. He never talks to himself and says, 'You are having a hard time, how unkind these people are to not understand you.' He never thinks: 'How wonderful I really am, if only other people gave me a chance.' Self-pity! What hours and years we waste in this! But the man who has become meek has finished with that. To be meek, in other words, means that you have finished with yourself altogether, and you come to see you have no rights or deserts at all" (69).

God in heaven, please use tomorrow's worship service to make me more meek so that I can sing from the heart, "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me."

In the name of the One who is "gentle and lowly in heart"--Jesus my Lord,
Amen.