Brave Enough to Love

I think it’s easy to pigeon-hole Martin Luther King, Jr. as a guy who was part of a race issue. We associate him with 1960s Civil Rights Movement, which was primarily regarding race and segregation issues.

Recently in my Sunday School class we were going over issues of abortion and euthanasia and I taught about the stance of our church, The Salvation Army. And this is what hit me. The Salvation Army is pro-LIFE. and I don’t mean that in the sense of “pro-life vs abortion,” I mean that we are about LIFE. Jesus came to give us LIFE and life more abundantly. Not just life, but a deep and wide and expansive life. The THIEF came to steal and destroy. But not Christ.

and Martin Luther King, Jr. stood alongside Christ and fought for LIFE – and life more abundantly.

It’s easy to believe that segregation is a thing of the past because we don’t verbally tell people to sit in certain places or label water fountains, but looking over the biggest news topics of 2014 shows that racism is still wounding our society.

But it’s not just racism. It’s segregation. We might think we don’t see skin color, but do we have sensitive noses? Do we avoid eye contact or cross to the other side of the street or keep walking without acknowledging a voice?

Christ came to give LIFE – not just breath, but real LIFE. Today we honor a man who fought with Christ for ABUNDANT LIFE.

If we claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, we need to stand alongside the LIFE of men like Martin Luther King, Jr. Who are the ones in your life being denied ABUNDANT LIFE? Show me the consistent group of people in your life who go unnoticed, overlooked and avoided and I will show you the place where you need to join the fight for LIFE, and LIFE ABUNDANTLY.

Let us not forget that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man who is remembered as a Civil Rights Leader but declared that his role in the Civil Rights Movement came about because of his deep conviction and belief in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. One person can radically shake the world.

I am one person and you are one person and today would be a great day to start that earthquake. It may look crazy to others, it may require unfathomable amounts of bravery, but it’s better than crossing to the other side of the street and looking away from injustice like that forgives us for our silence.