Posted on 01/18/2021 3:42:07 AM PST by Kaslin
On this day we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. May we be challenged to hear his faithful message anew. The media will focus on how racial bias still exists, but few will focus on the importance of his faith in shaping his message and his hope for America. What was his power source? It was the rock-solid inner strength that comes from faith and grounding in God.
In our increasingly secular society, the tributes to King focus on his use of peaceful marches, his calls for tolerance, and his impact on the Civil Rights Movement. But you will not hear the name of Jesus or his faith even uttered. King was a Baptist minister; his collections of sermons are inspiring. Martin didn’t just march; he walked his faith. It gave him the power to love and eventually influence his “enemies.” In this time of division and animosity, we would be wise to once again learn from his nonviolent protests and his heartfelt witness to the power of his Christian faith in changing a culture.
Martin Luther King expected believers to make a difference: “The church… is not the master or servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool.” He rejected violent demonstrations.
No doubt Martin would have echoed the statement of Confucius: “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” He knew the power of love over revenge: “Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”
He would live out the unsettling words of Jesus: “Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, 'Love your enemies.' It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long.”
Outside of the politicians in Washington and the extremists shouting at each other from our TV screens, most Americans are tired of people fueling what divides us. Whether it is impeaching a past president no longer in office, kicking people off or defriending people on social media, or turning protests into rioting, living with perpetual anger exacts a heavy cost on our shared community. Loving one’s enemies might be the radical act we need to embrace.
Martin was a realist, "Forgiveness is not an occasional act. It is a permanent attitude.” Nothing tried once works. If you take a chance to bridge a divide, enemies often assume you’re up to something. Trust only comes from a history of loving actions over and over again. Care enough to take the lead whether your “enemies” reciprocate or not.
King continued: “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend…. But the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friends. It is this type of understanding goodwill that will transform the deep gloom of the old age into the exuberant gladness of the new age. It is this love which will bring about miracles in the hearts of men."
As we eventually find our “new normal” after COVID is tamed and a new administration finds its footing, if the dangerous divide remains volatile, we need something far beyond “normal.” Love is abnormal. It changes the hearts of men. For Martin and those who marched with him, it changed the hearts of enough people to launch a civil rights movement that keeps challenging us even today.
From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he envisioned a future: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Would Martin Luther King, Jr.’s faith embrace the identity politics of our age that divides us into factions of Americans vying for special treatment and programs to right past wrongs? Would he support reparations for the past of slavery? Would he want a president to provide stimulus money to small businesses based not on need but on the race of the small-business owner receiving it? Or would he want us to live out E Pluribus Unum—out of many one? Can we still dream of being one people committed to opportunity and freedom for all?
Prayerfully answer that question. It’s clear that Martin wanted to change America into a color-blind society. We have made progress, and there will always be more to do. But Martin Luther King would be the first to remind us that God loves ALL His children, and it is our job to do the same.
If you were ever put on trial for your faith, would there be enough evidence of your love that they would convict you? There was for Martin. He paid the ultimate price for his radical love.
On the night before his assassination, King said: “I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land… So I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man.”
Faith is not required to do good, but to many Americans of many different faiths, God is the source of their strength and purpose. As Americans, may we never forget the men and women like Martin Luther King Jr. who put their faith into action for the benefit of us all!
It’s easy to love people we agree with. May God help us love and pray for our enemies. May God once again call us to community and dialogue across our divide. May God lead us into forgiveness instead of a never-ending cycle of getting even.
To love doesn’t force us to agree or to lay down our cause, but love does cause us to disagree without being anywhere near as disagreeable as we have been. Can God’s love make a difference? May we claim the words of St. Paul to the believers in Rome: “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
Faithful to whom? Coretta?
MLK was a republican.
What good are turning a blind eye to violence by people of color and paying reparations to people that have never been slaves by people who have never owned slaves? How does that achieve “Judged by content of character and not by color”? How does it achieve MLK’s goal, how does it sustain it? If you can’t explain that, no matter what your color, it’s stupid and MLK wouldn’t have supported it.
Coretta was unavailable for comment!
Pete, Dems push for reparations as a result of trying to keep black folks from leaving the party that has never done squat for blacks.
Blacks are finally coming top that realization.
My family came from Sweden and Ireland after the civil war and never have had a thing to do with slaves other than English they captured around the year 950 A.D. and brought back to Sweden.
Excuse me for a moment—I have to puke.....
Ah—that felt better....
;-)
Put on your yellow star—you are guilty, guilty, guilty!
Unfortunately humans are not going to achieve brotherly love and respect in this world. Jesus will separate the wheat from the chaff at the end of the Age. In the meantime we can,on a personal level,be respectful and help one another regardless of belief. But we cannot go along with evil just to get along.
Faithful?
Not to his wife
The Hypocrite Preacher Man
Yeah. A real cultural icon, he was.
Hate to promote Faux News, but there is a great article on their front page by Alveda King his niece.
I’m waiting for an important piece of mail today. Unfortunately there is no mail delivery today for some unknowable reason.
It seems the truth you have written is going to be ignored by most of my fellow freepers. I am the least of those and THIS truth is hardest to accept. When put into action, it has NEVER failed to produce precious fruit, genuinely pleasing to my Holy Father. It is impossible to please God without forgiveness of our enemies. If it was, He would not have required His children to forgive. With God, all things are possible. Nothing can stand against God or His perfect plan. He will make a way where no man can make one. Please, dear ones, do not let unforgiveness stand between you and eternal life. And yes, pray sincerely and fervently for Nancy, Chuck and anyone else who rises up to scorn and deny the God we serve. Miracles will result. Salvation changes the heart and makes even the most sinful being a saint.
The Beast As Saint”, by Kevin Alfred Strom
He will also be deplatformed and canceled soon, because he wasn’t enough.
It is already happening. Read out the “I have a dream” speech to a modern critical race theorist and they will screech at the implicit racism in it.
I have done it.
That’s why we have national black philanderer day.
Why do Republicans bend over backwards to praise the icons of the left? (BTW, King was a wife beater among other things.) Republicans will fawn over King and quote people like FDR and JFK. Puke, is right.
Democrats do not say one nice thing about any Republican or conservative, unless that Republican agrees with them. They have never said anything good about Reagan or Margaret Thatcher, regardless of all the good they did.
Phooey! The Dems can keep their heroes. I’m tuning out to all this King worship.
Vomit
Btw
https://twitter.com/matthewsbrake/status/1351339582655262720?s=21
Check this nevertrump idiot above
Bald faced liar
Reagan signed under protest
Michael Reagan is a charlatan
Michael Reagan had a radio show for awhile and you could tell from that that he’s an establishment hack. Funny because that same GOPe didn’t like Ronald Reagan. Michael removed all doubt about what he is in 2016, he was a vitriolic Trump hater.
Yep
Reagan kids
Leave lot to be desired
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.