Purging; purification; an apotropiac. In Christianity, it signifies penitence; humility; its purgative properties depict innocence regained, hence baptism.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. —Matthew 5:5
One problem with the English word meek is that it rhymes with weak, and people have linked the two words together for years. A popular dictionary offers a secondary definition of meek as “too submissive; easily imposed on; spineless; spiritless.” This causes some people to question why Jesus would say, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5).
Greek scholar W. E. Vine says that meekness in the Bible is an attitude toward God “in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting.” We see this in Jesus who found His delight in doing the will of His Father.
Vine goes on to say that “the meekness manifested by the Lord and commended to the believer is the fruit of power… . The Lord was ‘meek’ because He had the infinite resources of God at His command.” He could have called angels from heaven to prevent His crucifixion.
Jesus told His weary, burdened followers, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am [meek] and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:29). He was the perfect model of meekness.
When we are tired and troubled, Jesus invites us to discover the peace of meekly trusting Him. —David McCasland
Love sent the Savior to die in my stead. Why should He love me so? Meekly to Calvary’s cross He was led. Why should He love me so? —Harkness
God has two dwellings, one in heaven and the other in a meek and thankful heart. —Walton
I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. —Psalm 40:1
Waiting is hard. We wait in grocery lines, in traffic, in the doctor’s office. We twiddle our thumbs, stifle our yawns, and fret inwardly in frustration. On another level, we wait for a letter that doesn’t come, for a prodigal child to return, or for a spouse to change. We wait for a child we can hold in our arms. We wait for our heart’s desire.
In Psalm 40, David says, “I waited patiently for the Lord.” The original language here suggests that David “waited and waited and waited” for God to answer his prayer. Yet as he looks back at this time of delay, he praises God. As a result, David says, God “put a new song … a hymn of praise” in his heart (40:3 niv).
“What a chapter can be written of God’s delays!” said F. B. Meyer. “It is the mystery of educating human spirits to the finest temper of which they are capable.” Through the discipline of waiting, we can develop the quieter virtues—submission, humility, patience, joyful endurance, persistence in well-doing—virtues that take the longest to learn.
What do we do when God seems to withhold our heart’s desire? He is able to help us to love and trust Him enough to accept the delay with joy and to see it as an opportunity to develop these virtues—and to praise Him. —David Roper
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Thou art the Potter, I am the clay; Mold me and make me after Thy will, While I am waiting, yielded and still. —Pollard
I’m not the kind of girl who goes for"Hello" and “How r u doing” Just tell me how r u gonna use the sensivity of my clit and my nipples to make me scream and cry And beg for the a Mercy that doesn’t exist inside ur monster soul
The only way to make me believe u r a man is when u never let a second pass while u r in the house without making me scream and cry terrified and in pain. And most of all that u enjoy my torture than my sexuality.
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” - 1 Peter 5:6
A lot of times, we think that we are above everybody. What this cruel world is teaching us is that we must always be above anyone and we must always win in life. Most of the time, we then try to step on other people just to get whatever we want. The bottom line is, we don’t know the value of humility. We just don’t care whatever happens, or we don’t like it when people are above us. As much as possible, we wanna be on top of others. So, whatever it takes, we will take the top place.
However, we have to understand that God is always encouraging us to humble ourselves. No matter what other people reach, and we cannot have it, we must not compete but be humble. We need to show humility because just as God said, “Whoever will be the last, will be put to first.” Although this shouldn’t be our encouragement to humble ourselves because we are expecting to be praised in the end, this should be enough inspiration for us to remember that even Christ, who is our God, humbled Himself for us.
Now, the reason why God encourages us to humble ourselves is that God humbled Himself first. We as Christians need to reflect on the life of Christ. When we received Him as our Lord and Savior, we were given life through Him, and we will then receive Him not just as Savior but also as our Lord. So, if we receive Him as our Lord, we must also allow Him to have control of our lives. In doing so, we will then realize that as we reflect Christ, we must also reflect His humbleness. Now, part of this is the promise of our verse today that in due time, God will lift us up. Not because we are being humble in our own accord, but because we are reflecting Christ’s characteristics in our lives that we were able to humble ourselves.
Therefore, we must understand that it is really very important for us to receive Christ as our Lord and Savior first. Everything will be in place if we open our hearts to Him and let Him be our center. If we continue to live our lives in Christ, we must always reflect on Him. We must reflect His love, His humbleness, and His righteousness. Thus, we must never forget that we are blessed and that we will be lifted in due time because of God’s mighty hand. We are in good hands and we will be humbling ourselves as we serve Christ.
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“How do you feel about humiliation?” “I see you like being pissed on. What other kinds of humiliation are you into?” “Do you also like verbal humiliation?”
These are not easy questions for me. There was a time when I thought of myself as a person who enjoyed humiliation. But now? Not so much. It’s not that I have lost interest in certain acts; if anything, my interest in them has grown. I want him to piss and spit on me. I want him to give me an enema and make me expel it as he watches. I want him to make me desperate to cum, then tell me I can only orgasm by humping his leg.
But the intent changes everything. As I see it, humiliation play can serve two purposes. It can seek to heighten feelings of embarrassment and shame, or it can seek to remove the ability to feel embarrassed or ashamed. Humiliation play can make you want to hide, or it can free you from the need to hide. Becoming more self-conscious or losing your self-consciousness. It is the difference between being broken and being stripped of what is weighing you down.
For me, it looks a little like this. Once I had a partner who instructed me to wet myself in front of him as punishment. I begged him not to make me. He told me that this is what happens to filthy whores who can’t follow the rules. As I began to pee, he told me I was a disgusting girl. My face turned red. My eyes stayed focused on the floor. His words and actions were carefully designed to heighten my embarrassment. Emotional sadism. It was just part of how we played. At the time, it turned me on to be degraded like that. But it also made me feel small. It made me want to be invisible.
Contrast that with my first enema. He told me that he owned me, and I should never feel embarrassed about my body with him. This is what it means to be property. Then he filled my ass and had me crawl to the bathroom when I felt the urge to go. Of course, he watched. He had me touch myself until I was ready to cum, then expel the enema as I came. The act itself was embarrassing. But he made no effort to embarrass me. He simply smiled and called me a good girl. I looked up at him with no desire to look away. He helped me shed the dignity that kept part of me separate from him. It made me feel lighter. It made me feel more seen.
So was that humiliation? Expelling an enema while he watched and instructed me to “cum and shit”? It didn’t feel that way. To be clear, I cherish both of these experiences. They are both important parts of my journey. But they speak to different kinds of dynamics. It’s not about the actions themselves, but rather the intent. Humiliation play pushes boundaries, and sometimes you have to push in order to grow. To know that you can do more. Take more. Be more. I do want to be pushed. But I want him to push me so that I may overcome myself and accept his dominance, to become more his. I don’t want to be embarrassed. I want to learn that embarrassment has no place with my Master.
On Monday, I texted Amo. “I need you to ruin me. I need to be your disgusting little whore.” And that afternoon, I was. He spat on me and smeared it all over my face and hair. He fucked me with my head in the toilet, then emptied the condom on my face and threw it on my hair. He called me his good little ass-licking whore. He asked me if I was thirsty, then spat beer all over me. He had me touch myself while he pissed on my face and hair and cunt. Then he called me beautiful. His beautiful slave. Once I could open my eyes, I could see the way he looked at me. So much love and devotion. For him, my beauty lies in how deeply I give myself to him without reservation. No embarrassment. No shame. Just complete acceptance, for both of us. Then he handed me the beer bottle so I could stretch my cunt for him.
I am a slave now. For me, there is no humiliation. There are only opportunities to put my service to him above myself. So do I like humiliation play? Well, is it still humiliation when you have no use for dignity?
I love seeing casually dressed women wearing normal every day clothes engaged in Femdom. Latex and leather outfits definitely have their place, but I love seeing submission to Women who aren’t dressed up for men’s sexual excitement.
Those whom God pardons, must [nevertheless] be made to know what their sin deserved. [This will prevent us from taking lightly His mercy, by revealing the fatal nature of unpardoned sins, and the awful consequences of which we have been largely spared. A most terrible penance is that God will simply] let [us] go forward ‘as [we] are,’ [according to our own obstinate desires; despite the lack of active 'punishment’] this [leniency is] very expressive of God’s displeasure. Though He promises to make good His covenant with [us, despite our infidelity– God is still faithful–] yet [by the very nature of our willfully sinful state,] He denies [us] the tokens of His presence [we] had been blessed with [while in a state of grace. When we realize this distance, we shall mourn inconsolably] for [our] sin. Of all the bitter fruits and consequences of sin, true penitents most lament, and dread most, God’s departure from them. [Eden] itself would be no pleasant land without the Lord’s presence! Those [of us sinners] who [would readily] part with [our money, time, and comfort] to maintain [a habitual] sin, could do no less than lay aside [the same, giving money & time & effort towards the service of God as a] token of sorrow and shame for [the wasteful error of our sins. Indeed, what good are all the riches of the world, if we have not God? No amount of earthly pleasures can ever fill the emptiness we feel when we lose the grace of His Presence; that is something only a humbled, contrite heart can hope to be graced with once more.]
“Never be afraid of your Bibles. If there is a text of Scripture you dare not meet, humble yourself till you can. If your creed and Scripture do not agree, cut your creed to pieces, but make it agree with this book. If there be anything in the church to which you belong which is contrary to the inspired word, leave that church.”
—
Charles Spurgeon
This, right here, is the powerful heart of Christian living, the true fire of Charity.
The Bible contains many “hard sayings,” many difficult commands, and plenty of convicting truths. Being the Holy Book, it will inevitably point out our unholiness with piercing accuracy. Don’t run away. Don’t let pride make you hide! That Biblical cutting-down-to-size is what cuts out our sinful habits, if we humbly accept that we both need and deserve the process.
Likewise, some of your personal beliefs, opinions, preferences, ideas, etc., being formed by the world, will stand opposed or contrary– however minimally– to what it says in God’s Word. You may laugh this off as mistranslation or “outdated doctrine” or the like, trying to justify yourself and validate all your thoughts instead, forgetting that you are terribly fallible and prone to commit error every moment. When your viewpoint clashes with that of Scripture, you get off that high hill of yours and seek a different vantage point. When your own “book” of rules disagrees with the one Good Book, you tear your tome apart at the very spine. I use brutal language because we cannot be mincing or hesitant in these matters. There is One Truth that is God, and if we encounter opposition to it in ourselves, however “minor,” it is still a lie in the face of God and it must be removed and replaced.
Lastly, we live in the last days. The Church, though her heart is safeguarded as the Bride of Christ, nevertheless is maintained by thousands of human sons & daughters who maim their Lord’s teachings by their own errors, by gutless lies and social pride and moral laxity. Your local church is not exempt from this plague. You must keep your eyes & heart fixed on God’s Word, vigilant for any missteps or malice both within yourself and in your worship community, and like a devout soldier, always ready to defend your Lord’s honor and guard His Church from the enemy, the Liar. Be gentle but firm, courageous but meek, merciful but just– and start with yourself. Get the beam out of your own eye, by the grace of God! Only in true humble piety can you discern dangers in the church, which includes you. If you aren’t properly living as a sheep of His flock, you won’t recognize the impropriety of a wolf… and a true sheep knows their Master’s Voice: a Voice we learn to love through His Word.
Never be afraid of the Bible. Yes, it is full of fearful power, but that power is meant to save! Such is the nature of holiness. Its fire is meant to purify and enlighten! Every word within it has been given for Good. Trust in its heart, and read it constantly. Let it define your entire life, for when this life ends, only the soul who has loved God’s Word will know the Way to life eternal.
The vine had long been a beloved symbol of Israel… in the Last Supper discourse, on the way to Gethsemane, it acquires a new dimension, the pain of pruning. However, the suffering of Jesus is not the principal point here: [rather, it is that all] disciples of Jesus must be prepared to bear the pain of pruning. The image is a powerful one. To an uninstructed onlooker, the wretched, seemingly lifeless twigs left on the vines appear totally unable to burgeon in a few months into the rich harvest of grapes. The most powerful of all the aspects of the symbol is the sap pulsing through those apparently dead branches. There is all the difference in the world between those docked shoots [still thriving within], and the dead twigs scattered on the ground, [their wild growth availing nothing.Humble] adherence to the vine, to Christ himself, alone gives life to the Church.
The word ‘commandment’ often implies coercion and regimentation, and ‘obedience’ implies an unwilling or even a sulky child. In the case of God’s commands, however, a commandment is a gift, indicating the way in which love can be expressed; and obedience is a way of seeking to draw closer to God by imitation. The lover seeks to act like the beloved, to be modelled on the qualities which are loved and admired. The commands of God are not random or domineering, but are indications of the ways in which we can draw just a little nearer to the infinite qualities which are seen in the creating and redeeming God. The generosity seen in the beauties of nature and humanity, in the beauty of tolerance and forgiveness, are reflections of the divine qualities. This [humble, constant, compassionate “reflecting”] is how Jesus kept His Father’s commandments and remained in His love, and how we too may do the same.
It might even be said that Jesus needed to suffer so that we might see that God too can endure suffering. Suffering and the supreme suffering of death are human experiences which cannot [derive from] God, [nor can they be said to reflect any quality of divine perfection, for sin and death only entered the human experience through sin]. And so Jesus Himself took them on to share and ennoble these also, [transmuting death itself into a door to life– a paradox only God Himself could accomplish]. Jesus showed His love of the Father and His love of humanity by adopting and enduring the experiences which cannot touch an impassive God– [by being so touched, He proved His tender heart forever.] Such is the full meaning of the love expressed by ‘as the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you.’
The prophet Samuel tells the people of Israel that sacrifices and burnt offerings are not what God desires most. What God is really looking for from His people is obedience, not showing off with public spectacles of religion. [Centuries later,] God [still] asks us simply to obey Him, [except now He has also given us,] to follow, Jesus’ model of love, mercy and humility. [His example of obedience is perfect; we need only imitate Him through love. We couldn’t have simpler directions! Nevertheless,] we live in a time when churches can get sidetracked [from simplicity, becoming preoccupied] with putting on events or running programmes that are focused ‘inwards’– [prioritizing their own immediate needs over any acts of mercy]. Perhaps these are the bold 'burnt offerings’ of today? [After all, no matter how impressive the architecture, financial resources, public image, or social life of our church may be, if these things are not being used to actively obey God’s person-focused commandments, they mean nothing to Him.]
[Today, consider God’s true wants from us and ask:] How do we live out our faith in a practical way that pleases God most? [Have we done so today?] How do we become outward-facing churches and Christians, [making the service of God and His people the ultimate motive and end goal of all our choices?] God is looking for Christians who are willing to reach out to those in need [whenever we encounter their needs, not just when it’s 'convenient’]. How do you respond when you see those who are a pariah, [someone rejected or ridiculed even by fellow members of the faith? How do you meet the sick, the imprisoned, the homeless, the addict, the refugee? How do you act to soothe those who are afraid, lost, hopeless, disabled,] poor or in pain? [Do you see them all as people, or as projects for your pride? We cannot please God if we are thinking about what will make us look good.] What would it look like for you to look outwards and [selflessly] serve those who are in need of God’s love? After all, how we serve the poor and follow the example of Jesus is the real litmus test for churches and for us as individual Christians. [God’s commandments are to love and serve one another, not to help ourselves].
