Survival Of The Fittest Or Triumph Of The Meek? Series

The briefing ended, CNN switched to commercials, and I returned to the VCR tapes. Max von Sydow, a blond, pasty Jesus was giving an improbable rendition of the Sermon on the Mount in The Greatest Story Ever Told. ‘Blessed … are … the … poor … in spirit,’ he intoned in a slow, think Scandinavian accent …. I had to adjust to the languid pace of the movie compared to General Schwarzkopf’s briefing, and it took a few seconds for the irony to sink in: I had just been watching the Beatitudes in reverse!

Blessed are the strong, was the general’s message. Blessed are the triumph. Blessed are the armies wealthy enough to posses smart bombs and Patriot missiles. Blessed are the liberators, the conquering soldiers.”

Who is right? Schwarzkopf or Jesus? I know you want to say, Jesus—because you are all good Christians. But I suspect you also want to say, “In the world which we are living in, the reality is that Schwarzkopf is also right—perhaps more right than Jesus!

Survival of the fittest, survival of the cunning, survival of the strong—they appear only too true. Richard Hatch’s win in Survivor and Schwarzkopf’s victory in the Gulf War have shown us that this is true. Don’t tell me that you don’t sometimes envy people like that. And we are tempted to adopt the ways of the world—because they work! So we fight our way to the top, we scheme to get our way, we get close to those who have the power to help us get what we want. Somebody said, “I’m getting sick of the rat race. The rats keep getting bigger and faster.”

Just how realistic is the way of Jesus, the way of the Beatitudes, and the Sermon on the Mount? Just how true is Jesus’ statement, “Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth”? (Mt 5:5.)

Triumph of the Meek

The Christ-follower Lives by God’s Values

If you want to talk about what is the realistic thing to do to live in this world—then I suppose, Richard Hatch, Schwarzkopf and people like have the right answer. But I believe the primary issue is not how we can realistically live in this world—but whose values you want to live by—the world’s or God’s?

The Christ-follower lives by God’s values. This is antithesis No. 1 to the often accepted philosophy of Survival of the Fittest.

Daniel had the choice—whether to offend the King’s officers by refusing to eat unhalal food (non-kosher)—and thereby, forgo the opportunity of a better life in the services of the king of Babylon, or to disobey God’s clear command about the kind of foods the Jews could and could not eat.

Daniel chose to the first. And it wasn’t a choice of what is the more realistic thing to do to live in this world, but rather who’s values am I going to live by. And Daniel chose God’s values.

It was the same—when Peter and Jon were told by the religious authorities not to preach anymore in the name of Jesus. They were threatened with harm if they did so. Their reply was this, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.

The result? In the case of Daniel—the Lord blessed him and he became a man whom kings sought counsel. And he took the opportunity to influence them for God.