26 Meek vs. mild: Which delivers the goods?

The word “meek” really refers to “people who don’t hate or resent others, who have no self-will and no fear.” Ah.

When Jesus told his followers that the meek shall inherent the Earth, what was he really suggesting? That we should become doormats if we want to bring home the good stuff? Actually, the word “meek” in historical context*, refers to “people who don’t hate or resent others, who have no self-will and no fear.” Ah.

To be meek also means not having to prove we are right all the time. Plus, per the now-archaic definition, it means one has the strength, power and independence to live within the framework of divine law, rather than swimming upstream against God’s laws and creating disharmonious currents.

So when Jesus advised us to become meek, he was really saying we need to cleanse ourselves all the way to our core, so we have a healthy soul. In no way did he mean we should allow the lower nature of another person to walk all over our meekness.

Ironically, the definition of meek today is to be “quiet, gentle, and easily imposed on; to be submissive”. If we call to mind any picture we’ve ever seen of Jesus, doesn’t this version of meek seem to apply?

But is it likely he was really so meek and mild, as we use these words today?As the story goes, it was the Pharisees and scribes who wouldn’t hear Jesus out. So at a minimum one would guess he was a bit hacked off, half the time. Then again, if he was truly meek, maybe he was able to roll with those punches.

But when we consider what his mission was—what was on the line should he actually fail—there’s just no way the man was a pushover. He simply could not have been submissive and succeeded the way he did.

The mission of Christ

So let’s roll it back: What was the mission? In short, after the Fall we found ourselves in a world of hurt. For we had been swept out of heaven by God as punishment for misbehaving. Our misbehavior was our disobedience. In essence, we had thumbed our noses at God and his request we use our free will to honor Christ as our King. Instead, we had been supporting Lucifer’s bid to take over the throne from Christ.

Christ was God’s first-born son. Lucifer, in turn, was Christ’s first-made being, and as such, he was like a younger brother to Christ. (The rest of us came along somewhere after the initial princes who include the archangels Michael, Raphael and Gabriel.) But sibling rivalry can upset the family dynamics of even those on the highest rungs. And so it came to pass that Lucifer set about convincing all of us to cast our votes his way to become our new leader. And if we’re here, then we did.

Lucifer set about convincing all of us to cast our votes his way to become our new leader. And if we’re here, then we did.

Let’s now skip ahead in the story to the time when we had been solidly stuck under Lucifer-now-called-Satan’s thumb for a seriously long time. Christ—who still loved the heck out of us—had executed a massive plan, called the Plan of Salvation. The Plan was to give us a chance to change our ways and make our way back home to God. For our free will had taken us only so far. In fact, it led us exactly to the place where we were pinned under the domination of Satan’s cruel hand. And we could go no further.

For many eons, we had been incarnating on Earth over and over again. Our goal was to learn our lessons and make the better choice for light over dark. But this dualistic sphere, which Christ carefully designed and built for us—admittedly, with the help of a few bjillion spirit angels who hadn’t succumbed to the Fall—wasn’t fully under Christ’s control. No, Satan was the reigning king of this universe. After all, we wanted to have him for our king so bad, well, now we had him.

Pity was, he was a real bear to have for a leader. His hate was his primary motivator. And he didn’t hesitate to unleash a storm of cruelty on each of us. Meanwhile, we were toiling to come clean from this mess we were in. At long last, Christ and Satan came to an agreement, however such business deals go down in the Spirit World. The arrangement was to create a way to let us return to the light should we work for it.

Pity was, Lucifer was a real bear to have for a leader.

In essence, they came to this agreement. That if any spirit being could come to Earth and stay true to God—even after Satan was given cart blanche at certain times to the throw the whole works of torture and temptation at them without the Spirit World interfering—then Satan would be willing to fight a war. Should he lose this war, he would begin to let us go. He would also start playing more fairly while we’re still visitors to Earth.

As the Guide tells it, we don’t have the wherewithal to comprehend how all that exactly went down. But suffice it to say, a deal was struck. This is important because never, ever can it be said that God didn’t honor the free will given everyone. And this includes family-tree-climbing Lucifer.

The stakes were so high

So back to Christ. It was not stated who, from the Spirit World, should take on this mission. But Christ, being the “older brother,” if you will, who made Lucifer so jealous, raised his hand. What this meant was that if Jesus—Christ, incarnating as a man—had not been successful, the highest ranking being of God’s good Spirit World would have fallen under the domination of Satan. Think about that.

It’s hard to fathom how the stakes could have been any higher. And while one could say that surely if things went sideways, God could have stepped in and saved the day. But that’s missing the whole point of how God operates. Like a good father, God is teaching us to use our free will to make the right choices. Those are the choices necessary to get ourselves back home. Sure, God extends a helping hand here and there, but he never cheats at this game we call life.

Sure, God extends a helping hand here and there, but he never cheats at this game we call life.

Alternatively, one could imagine that the deck was stacked in Christ’s favor. For surely it couldn’t have been possible for the king to actually fail. Right? Well, in fact, it was. Otherwise why would Satan have taken the bet? He had a sporting chance to take down Christ the King, and he went for it.

Consider that coming to Earth is a hairy mission for all of us, not just for Christ. For one thing, the veils are so thick we can’t see that a Spirit World even actually exists. So we have to fight over and over to hang onto every shred of awareness we gain until the truth starts to stick. Even without a Lower Self—which of course Christ didn’t have, since he obviously didn’t participate in the Fall—there are no humans who are perfect. In other words, just like the rest of us, Christ had to grow up and learn to mind his manners and not lip off to his parents.

He developed skills as a carpenter and bought several houses with his earnings. He would later sell them to provide cash so he could go off teaching and not have to beg or borrow from everyone and their brother. Then, as he stepped into his role as a teacher, well, history tells us that didn’t go so well.

He started performing miracles, first turning water into wine at a wedding. And then eventually doing so many jaw-dropping miracles it’s hard to keep up with them all. He was trying to convince all the naysayers that he really was who he was saying he was. But he was stymied at every turn. He did not have what one might call a cushy ride.

Now of course, he was Christ. And so he was also able to connect clairvoyantly with the spirits who came to help him. Plus he was able to talk directly with God his father. Or as he called him, “Abba”. That’s how he learned of his mission. So it’s not like he was clueless about what he was up to, or up against.

And yet, as the Guide reports, no one before and no one since has ever had to deal with the likes of the shinola that Satan was able to throw at him, personally, through his henchmen, and probably through the Pharisees and scribes they manipulated. And then we portray Christ as being meek and mild? Really?

No one before and no one since has ever had to deal with the likes of the shinola that Satan was able to throw at Jesus.

The mental, emotional and physical stamina required would have toppled any one of us, many times over. Maybe we could do a day or two of it, with enough preparation. But on and on, for forty days and nights, in the desert? Says the Guide, “You have no idea.”

So no, Christ was not a namby-pamby. He was not someone who the corrupt money changers could push around, or who withdrew early because he “just didn’t feel up to talking again tonight.” He gave it everything he had, and he had so incredibly much to give.

And why would he do that? In a word, for us. He did all that for us so we wayward children could get out from under Satan’s domination and begin to make our way across the bridge he created, eventually returning to God’s kingdom: our original home.

Consider too that Christ wasn’t just a survivor. His mission wasn’t only to endure what Satan could sling at him and not crumple. No, once the death on the cross was finally over, then he kicked it into high gear and went on the offensive. For having survived the onslaught was truly a great mission, but that wasn’t the end of the negotiation.

Once the death on the cross was finally over, Christ kicked it into high gear and went on the offensive.

After a brief time of rest and healing in the Spirit World, along came archangel Michael, the warrior leading the charge of angels who went into Hell to fight like they meant it. It is interesting to note that when God is on our side, we have access to abundant—actually infinite—love and support. In this case, it came in the form of ammunition. So while Michael’s army could load and reload ad infinitum, Satan and his gang of thieves were eventually backed against a wall with no way to win.

Consider too that Satan would have known that if it came down to this war, he was likely to be outgunned. He had to win it while Christ was on the planet. So he gave it to Christ with everything he had.

The fight is for the light

When we talk about the Final Judgment, we’re speaking of the outcome of this war in which Christ and the home team were the victor. It set into motion new rules, which Satan was now obliged to obey. Accordingly, this meant that he no longer had free rein to subvert and ambush humans endlessly as we make our way through life after life, trying to find the will to make the better choices.

Ever since Christ’s mission on Earth, Satan can only attack and tempt us to the extent we still harbor pockets of negativity within us. The bigger our stashes of stuck negativity—and yeah, sometimes it’s more like vast storehouses—the more it will seem like life is unfairly attacking us. But the true source of our misery is always our own previous choices and the resulting dark karma that clings to us until we clear it.

Ever since Christ’s mission on Earth, Satan can only attack and tempt us to the extent we still harbor pockets of negativity within us.

This means that every time we fight—much like Christ did—to find the light, and every time we make the better choice to follow the footsteps that lead us back to God, we will make headway. We will inherit the rewards of having fought the good fight and claiming victory over our vices. Per the original meaning of the word, we will become more meek, which in current-day terms really means to become more clean and more whole.

Our progress is our own and no one can take that away from us, unless we let them. Not Satan and not the person standing next to us who hasn’t yet found the bridge to the light. The choice is always ours regarding how we want to proceed in life. My suggestion? Go like Christ. Go for the goods. Become truly meek and be amazing.

—Jill Loree