But I say to you, love [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for] your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. (Matthew 5:44 AMP)
Today is the day we pause to remember and reflect on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who, had he not been assassinated in 1968, would be 97 years old. I have assembled quotes from his sermons and writings, interspersed with Bible verses, and invite you to listen as the Lord leads you.
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27 NIV)
“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
— Strength to Love (1963)
“All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”
— Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963)
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:13 NIV)
“Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
— Strength to Love
“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”
— Sermon, Loving Your Enemies
What does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8 NIV)
“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.”
— Strength to Love
“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
— Letter from Birmingham Jail
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us…If we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. (Romans 8:18, 25 NIV)
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
— Sermon, Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
— Sermon, Where Do We Go from Here?
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.”
— Strength to Love
God of Justice,
Thank you for the examples of brave persons like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. whose life and ministry focused around the equality of all humans. Thank you that we are made in your image, to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. Thank you for the call to lay down our lives in love for those around us, knowing that the present sufferings we patiently endure will help grow your glory within us. Give your church the clarity, discernment, moral courage, resources, and leadership to bring your justice into this world. May those who make unjust laws, oppressive decrees, or otherwise deprive people of their rights and withhold your holy justice be stopped. May your justice and righteousness roll on like never-failing streams, we ask in Jesus’s name. AMEN.
Woe to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees,
to deprive the poor of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people… (Isaiah 10:1-2 NIV)
Let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream! (Amos 5:24 NIV)