Could it happen again?

Last summer I casually decided to read The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.  I was in need of a good read and I had purchased it on Amazon back in the spring as I thought it would be interesting to read up on King's life.  I knew my basic US history - the boycotts, the march on Washington D.C., "I have a dream" - all the stuff you get taught in school.  So, needless to say, I was blown out of the water by what I read through the pages of King's life and message.

Martin Luther King, Jr., over a period of no more than a couple weeks of reading his story, went from an unrelated historical figure to one of my greatest life heroes.  Each chapter I read, I found myself weeping and laughing, experiencing deep conviction and remorse, being inspired, roused and stirred up.  

Something deep inside of me cried out in response to the revolution that King ignited.  As he shared about “the determined courage of individuals willing to suffer and sacrifice for their freedom and dignity,” I had to fight the urge to climb onto the roof of my house, flag in hand, calling out for a new justice revolution!  The stories of the common man and the average woman who rose up to fight against the evil systems of racial discrimination of their day pumped hope through my veins ‘til I was dizzy with possibility.

Could it happen again?

When will the people rise up against the injustice in the land?  At what point is enough enough?  What has to take place provoke us past indignation and into action?

King wrote, “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.  Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of forces of social stagnation.  We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.”

I think we are waiting for something to happen.  Maybe we do truly desire to see injustices thwarted and peace and justice fill our lands, but so often do we bury those desires in the mire of our timidity and inability.  When we look in the mirror, we never assume that perhaps we are looking at a revolutionary.   We hide behind our excuses.  We gag our own voices in an attempt to avoid controversy.

But our silence is sentencing millions to an inevitable death march.

In choosing to not speak up against the injustice in the land, in choosing to turn a blind eye, we are actually giving that very injustice permission to thrive in the land.

Who will challenge the Goliaths in the land?  Who will say as David did, “who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”  And then with a stone in hand, run towards the evil of injustice and strike it with the fury of the Living God?

King continues, “… any religion that professes concern for the souls of men and is not equally concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social conditions that cripple them is spiritually moribund religion only waiting for the day to be buried.”

We as the people of God are responsible!  No one is exempt!  I’m pretty sure that if you read the Book you will find that being an advocate for justice is much more than a Christian elective.  It is actually a Christian requirement.

It’s scary to me how easy it is to fall into indifference.  Even as I was reading over the things I underlined in King’s autobiography, I was again hit with so much conviction.  Am I making this my lifestyle?  For me personally, it’s so easy to get up on my soap-box and spew out my opinions about how the Church needs to step it up.  But it’s not as easy to take a hard look at my own life and really question whether or not I am truly living this message.

This is something that the Lord has been challenging me in over the past few weeks.  I can rant all I want, but the truth is, I cannot change anybody.  No matter if I preach ‘til I’m blue in the face, I do not have the power to change a single person.  

The only person I can change is me.

If I want to see a justice revolution sweep through this nation, I have to first see a justice revolution happen in my own life.  This is a daily choice.  It’s not easy.  It may seem menial and insignificant.  But as we saw through the example of King’s life, all it takes is ordinary people choosing to stand for justice in both the small things and the big things.

“I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of me…  I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, other-centered men can build up.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.