When I was younger (I am a 90's child) I was a follower of the teachings of Malcolm Little, better known as Malcolm X. He was the militant voice that expressed my anger and youthful rebellion. Brother Malcolm preached the philosophy of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a life for a life. In a nutshell, his teaching was basically this--do unto others as they do unto you, and sometimes, do unto others before they do unto you. I do not believe brother Malcolm preached hate. But I understand now that what he preached was not love.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached love. He preached a love so strong that it could endure the water hoses, the attack dogs, the spitting in the face, the yelling of racial slurs, the police brutality, and yes, even the bodies of young black men that swung from so many southern branches---lifeless.
In the face of real danger, Dr. King's response was simple--to love. It is the greatest commandment, and the hardest to keep. What most of us call love is a weak emotional response to someone that makes us feel good. It is fleeting and corruptible. It is only given to certain individuals.
Real love is much stronger than that. Real love allows us to pray for those who would do us harm. It enables us to show kindness and forgiveness 70 X 7 times to those who hurt us. True love is not just given to certain individuals, it is for the entire human race. If we were made in His image, and we love Him, then we must love the whole of humanity because they too are made in His image. And, we are to do it all of the time. That is a strong love. It is a love that mirrors God's love for us.
Dr. King's legacy is fading. Not because we are not embracing each other, but because we are loving each other too weakly. We don't hold each other accountable in the name of love. Somewhere along the way we have equated love with making people feel good. We neglect the harder love that allows us to stand up to wrong doing in the lives of our loved ones. Dr. King's legacy is failing because we are too weak to tell our sons that their lives should be about self-sacrifice instead of self-indulgence. The legacy is fading because we don't love our fellow man enough to share Jesus.
I'm sure it was very uncomfortable for Dr. King to stand up, march, get thrown in jail, and beaten. He didn't do it for glory. He did it because he loved deeply enough to make a stand. Christians (and I include myself in this) how much do we have to hate someone to not share Jesus when we know he is the way to eternal life in paradise just because it is uncomfortable to do so? How much do we have to hate anyone to not want them saved? What would happen if we all decided to really perfect our witness and share our faith this year? Is that not the ultimate act of love?
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