“But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” – Acts 20:24
Today we honor the life, work, and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King was born into a society of deep racism and injustice that didn’t align to God’s will, God’s Word, or God’s heart. What he saw didn’t reflect God’s Kingdom here on earth. Rather than accept this, he committed his life to changing it no matter the personal cost. Dr. King and those with him didn’t change the world through force of arms, but by the power and strength of the Holy Spirit as so many of God’s children came together in prayer and peaceful action.
While Dr. King is widely celebrated today, as followers of Jesus, we are wise to remember that many who loved Jesus and the Bible stood in strident and even violent opposition to civil rights. Many Christians were on the wrong side of sinful injustice and ungodly history. They stood there because of attachment to earthly structures and vile distortions of Scripture. We must acknowledge this shameful history so that we do not repeat it in our own day!
The Bible commands us to examine ourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5). Do our words, attitudes, assumptions, and actions truly reflect the Son of God and the Word of God? Are we working for a Kingdom-oriented society that reflects God’s heart for equality, brotherhood, justice, love, and mercy? Are there areas in which our thoughts remain so captive to patterns and strongholds of earthly sin that we’ve twisted Scripture to provide comfort for our sin rather than conviction?