As our church prayed last Sunday for racial reconciliation in our country, someone mentioned the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I suddenly realized how blessed we are that he, and not a voice of violence, rose to such prominence in the 1960s civil rights movement.
Revolutionary leaders have emerged in other countries, calling for vandalism and armed rebellion to throw off oppression. But in America, we are blessed--more than we can imagine--that Dr. King is our nation's conscience for equality.
Even now, 50 years later, civil rights leaders look to the example of Dr. King for inspiration. Think of the powerful principles he embodied.
King firmly believed that might doesn't make right. Right makes right. King called us to recognize equality because it is right in the eyes of God. His peaceful resistance spoke truth to power.
King applied the gospel of Jesus Christ to the problem of racism. This gospel demands that the oppressors repent, and it empowers the oppressed to forgive. Only through such changes of heart can healing begin.
The methods of King, inspired by Jesus, kept the tensions from spiraling into civil war. Protesting for equality with peaceful but defiant actions forced our nation to repent.
Yes, things have gotten better, but we have a long ways to go.
