Meekness does not oppose boldness. It means to speak up without speaking down. It means to depend upon the Lord. It means to become like the Savior.
Sections:
Introduction - 0:17
A Companion Virtue to Patience - 1:02
Why So Important? - 3:44
Development Gradual, Sometimes Painful - 8:25
Further Consideration - 12:17
Examples, Good and Bad - 16:48
Proper Use of Power and Authority - 21:14
The World Takes a Different View of Meekness - 26:05
Development of Meekness Difficult - 29:41
Conclusion - 32:24
speeches.byu.edu/talks/neal-a...
"I welcome you to a Christian campus where discipleship and scholarship are uniquely blended. I salute your ecclesiastical and academic leaders, so many of whom are with us tonight. They will serve you exceedingly well.
My brothers and sisters, as on another occasion at this pulpit, I will speak out of my own strugglings about another unglamorous but very crucial gospel objective. Then, the subject was patience, a virtue which is regarded by some as quite pedestrian but which is essential to our development and happiness.
Our focus tonight will be on meekness, a companion virtue to patience. Meekness, too, is one of the attributes of Deity. Instructively, Jesus, our Lord and Exemplar, called attention to Himself as being “meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). Paul extolled the “meekness and gentleness of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:1). The Greek rendition of the word meek in the New Testament, by the way, is gentle and humble.
Actually, meekness is not only an attribute essential for itself; Moroni declared that it is also vital because one simply cannot develop those other crucial virtues-faith, hope, and charity-without meekness. 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.
Moreover, if one needs any further persuasion as to how vital this virtue is, Moroni warned, “none is acceptable before God save the meek and the lowly in heart” (Moroni 7:44). If we could but believe, really believe, in the reality of that bold but accurate declaration, you and I would then find ourselves focusing on the crucial rather than the marginal tasks in life! We would then cease pursuing life-styles which, inevitably and irrevocably, are going out of style!
There would be little reason for speaking to you of meekness if you were not serious candidates for the celestial kingdom. You live in coarsening times, times in which meekness is misunderstood and even despised. Yet meekness has been, is, and will remain a non-negotiable dimension of true discipleship. Its development is a remarkable achievement in any age, but especially in this age.
Furthermore, whether you realize it or not, you are a generation drenched in destiny. If you are faithful, you will prove to be a part of the winding-up scenes for this world, and as participants, not merely as spectators, though on later occasions you might understandably prefer to be the latter." - Elder Neal A. Maxwell
Neal A. Maxwell was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when this fireside address was given at Brigham Young University on 5 September 1982.
Follow BYU Speeches:
/ byuspeeches
BYUSpeeches?ref_s...
/ byuspeeches
/ byuspeeches
© Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved