Today's Daily Lesson comes from Romans chapter 2 verses 14 through 16:
14When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. 15They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them 16on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.
This week several of us from church have been reading and discussing Dr. Martin Luther King's 10 Commandments of Nonviolence. This is a list of spiritual instructions Dr. King and other Southern Christian Leadership Conference Leaders gave to movement participants in the 1963 Birmingham Campaign. All participants were expected to pledge themselves to these instructions.
The Eighth Commandment is this:
"Refrain from the violence of fist, tongue, or heart."
An exceedingly important part of the work we have to do is the spiritual purification of our own selves. We have to cleanse our own selves of the bitterness, anger, and vitriol which is destroying the country. As the Quakers say, "In fighting the beast, we must not allow ourselves to become beasts." We must purify our hearts, and our minds, and our tongues, and our Facebook posts of all violence and hatred.
Lent is the season for spiritual purification. It is the season of cleansing. So we ask God to do a Spring cleaning on us, that we will be ready to fight the good fight and not the bad, and not be overcome by evil, but seek to overcome evil with good.
May the goodness of our Lord show us how.
Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.
No comments:
Post a Comment