The Instinct of Sarcasm: The Story of CainSample

Avoiding Reaction

One of the challenges of humility is that it is a characteristic that tends to go bad on you. Lewis is famous for having pointed this out. The more attention you give to your own humility the more it tends toward pride. It’s possible to become proud of your humility and lose the thing altogether.

I think the Bible offers another practice that can help us grow in humility without losing it in the process. And it’s not surprising that this virtue is one of the least discussed or practiced amongst men today. I like to call meekness the missing masculine virtue.

James points out that we are to receive God’s instruction with meekness. He connects it with being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.

Most Christians will acknowledge meekness as a virtue. We remember Jesus's promise that the meek will inherit the earth, but few people would willingly describe themselves as meek. We might like the idea of being humble but few people are thinking seriously about how to cultivate meekness.

I think we misunderstand the real power of the word. Meekness is not weakness. In the ancient Greek world, the word was sometimes used to describe warhorses. A warhorse had to possess a careful balance. It needed to maintain its strength and power but it needed to bring them both under the disciple of the rider. A warhorse was meek when it was both strong and disciplined.

Meekness is best thought of as the inner strength to avoid reaction. The horse can be ridden into battle, flanked by cannon and musket fire, and never lose control. So too, a humble man can face all kinds of threats and offenses and not lose himself. He can take a punch without having to punch back.

It’s this meekness that was missing in Cain’s life. Threatened by God, he had to react, had to hit back. The murder of his brother was an immature reaction. It demonstrated his weakness, not his strength.

A fighter’s strength is not only measured by the force of his punch but also by the force he can absorb without being knocked out. The truly meek man is not weak, he is able to maintain his self-suspicion and mind the direction of God’s leading even when he feels under threat.

So, meekness is a good test for helping us cultivate greater humility and trust in God. How reactive are you? When someone hurts you or offends you, do you feel the urge to react? If so, are you really in control, or are you not at the mercy of your first impulse?

The dangerous man is not strong, he is weak and prone to use whatever strength he does possess in desperate reactive flailing. Humility and meekness teach a man to wait. To listen. To take direction from God. Slow to speak. Slow to anger. Quick to hear. That’s how James recommends it.

When threatened do you find yourself reacting or can you afford to absorb the offense?