This Article Was Originally Published On Jan 18, 2021

The year was 1989, and I was a freshman in high school. I was sitting at a lone desk in an empty hallway because, once again, my behavior had gotten me kicked out of class—but on purpose, actually. Because though I was attending one of the best prep schools in New Jersey and in all honors classes, occasionally, when the learning material couldn’t quite hold my attention, I’d goof around until I was asked to take my desk into the hallway. And what would I do once in the hallway? I’d eagerly pull out Strength To Love, by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Since middle school, Dr. King was always my favorite, reading away and even re-reading the heavier content until I got it. Dr. King was a pure scholar.

“My friends, we cannot win the respect of the White people of the South or elsewhere if we are willing to trade the future of our children for our personal safety or comfort. Moreover, we must learn that passively to accept an unjust system is to cooperate with that system, and thereby become a participant in its evil… Put up thy sword.” — Strength To Love, 1963

This book I always carried with me was actually an original paperback that had belonged to my father during his executive administrative position at Seton Hall University. He had emulated the steps of Dr. King and became a leader in the civil rights struggle in New Jersey, implementing scholarship programs and graduate programs for people of color, which are still active until this very day. But not before he first endured growing up in poverty in the Deep South of the 1950s. He attended segregated schooling throughout high school, where his hungry mind always had to wait until the white schools finished sucking the abridged life out of every textbook before his school could finally get them. Even after earning valedictorian at his school, his physics teacher gave him a failing grade on a perfect paper. When my dad asked why, the teacher told him, “I didn’t give you an ‘A’ on that paper because you said you wanted to be a nuclear physicist, and a colored person has no business being a nuclear physicist.”

On this day when Dr. King’s birthday is nationally honored (his actual birthday being January 15), what does he mean to me?

As far back as I can remember, and even before his birthday became a national holiday in 1986, an integral part of our northern urban culture was to ecstatically celebrate Dr. King’s birthday—even if it just meant turning up Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday to Ya,” extra loud on Mom’s clock radio as we’d get ready for school that morning.

Also, as far back as I can remember, whenever Dr. King’s name was mentioned, the emphasis on the title “doctor” was always sacred, as to just say his name would seemingly usher in a hush of honor and dignity as everyone would seem to hold their heads a bit higher for a second. While others called him by his full name without the title, we remembered him as a man who overcame all obstacles to earn his Ph.D., a rarity for countless black folks in those times. He was beloved in our community: He was like everyone’s unofficial favorite grandfather, father, godfather, uncle or son. A man, who for the sake of fighting for the freedoms of the oppressed, didn’t fear violent fists, fire hoses, bone-bruising batons, handcuffs, prison cells, police dogs trained to go berserk whenever they saw brown skin, or even death itself.

I grew up in a home with a humanistic worldview, attending Catholic church only on the important holidays, so I had a vague familiarity with Jesus. But I remember reading Dr. King’s references to Jesus Christ, Christ’s Sermon on the Mount and Christ’s commandment to forgive and turn the other cheek, and then getting to observe how Dr. King actually lived it out. He was the first person to make Jesus’ life and teachings relevant and powerful to me. Long before I was anywhere close to believing the Gospel and giving my heart to Christ, Dr. King showed this once-young, curious “searching” teenager—growing up on the drug-dealing streets of inner-city New Jersey, while at the same time, going to a wealthy prep school where I had my own countless bouts with both blatant and covert forms of racism—that Jesus was real and that Jesus’ teachings were still relevant in modern times and for modern issues.

Fast forward now: I matriculated at the “Ivy League” halls of the University of Pennsylvania, and though I was a pre-med student, I began learning much more about the world around me.

As an African-American Studies minor, I studied other prominent black leaders who had ideologies quite different from those of Dr. King’s.

I attended various lectures and even sat at the feet of people like Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Movement (along with Huey P. Newton). I read Malcolm X and others who critiqued Dr. King’s methods. But to me, Dr. King remained bulletproof from the blaze of any critic; his message of reconciliation was simple and powerful and grounded in the love taught by Christ.

Fast forward, yet again, to when I hadn’t read Dr. King in years, by this point, when I was my senior year at Penn and busy navigating and (seemingly barely) surviving my own personal Ecclesiastes, like the spiritually-wearied King Solomon—suddenly finding everything around me to feel like “vanity” and “chasing wind” when it came to finding “true fulfillment”—and thereby, leading me to discover the regenerating Gospel of Jesus Christ as the true summum bonum (i.e., “greatest good”) for all of mankind. Oh, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, t’was blind but now, I see.”

As I graduated from Penn and began devouring the Word of God and growing in a (heavy) Bible-teaching church community, I was learning to “rightly divide the word of God” and even hold up the teachings of others against the Word of God—just as Jesus instructs His followers to do (I Thessalonians 5:21; Psalm 138:2). And it was at this point that I learned the difference between good or “sound” theology, bad theology and even “slightly off” theology.

I began learning more about Gospel-centered ministry, and how when Jesus spoke of giving a (refreshing) cup of water to even a child in His name, that even that wouldn’t go unrewarded by Him—and how some are indeed giving the (refreshing) cup of cold water “in His name” (i.e., while sharing the soul-saving “Good News” message of Jesus Christ, while countless others—all in the name of “Christian ministry”—all too often end up compromising with a “Social Gospel,” which still gives the (refreshing) cup of cold water and meets the pressing need(s) at hand, only they neglect doing it “in His name,” as the final element of Jesus’ command.

Thus, as a Bible-lensed believer, I had to now look at Dr. King, my first “superhero,” my first scholar whom I read in empty “naughty” hallways, after getting kicked out of class, the man who greatly inspired my own (hero) father, the man who still made my mom get teary-eyed when she found a rare book by him to gift to me, the man who first made Jesus real to me… I had to look at him through the lenses of “rightly divided” Scripture. And having a close friend who worked directly with Dr. King’s children at the King Foundation in Atlanta, Georgia, I even got access to hundreds of pages of King’s never-released essays, including essays from his younger days attending a liberal seminary, where he even questioned the Word of God’s supreme, inerrant theology, while trying to amalgamate the biblical worldview with ancient Egyptian belief systems. Add to that the pressing questions you hear voiced here and there:

Was Dr. King a socialist or communist? Was he an adulterer? Did he fall victim to Jesus’ warnings concerning “the leaven of Herod,” falling into the trap of mingling humanistic political might with unadulterated Gospel hope? There was so much to think about, but I had to be reminded of one thing: Whenever we are confronted with uncertainties or unanswered questions surrounding a person, we tend to “throw the baby out with the bathwater.” At the heart of observing others, will always remain the ongoing struggle of reconciling the imperfections of the person, with the redeemable parts and lessons of the message and the overall work.

So what do we do with all of this, and as (rhetorically) stated in the title of Dr. King’s last book he wrote, Where Do We Go From Here? I have come to the conclusion that we owe Dr. King the same grace we’ve extended to King David, King Uzziah, Peter & the other disciples, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his reported involvement in two assassination attempts on Hitler, C.S. Lewis and his non-biblical belief in Purgatory, and countless others. In fact, it is the very same grace we pray to God for concerning our own personal lives every day. The Bible clearly instructs us to “mark the steps of a righteous man (Psalm 37:37),” to call sin for what it is, and to learn from those around us (and those in history), which also included learning from their mistakes, lest we easily slip and fall in (any and all similar) places ourselves (I Corinthians 10:12). Yes, the Word of God is supreme and is to be our guide in all things, but in doing so, love will always remain the “most excellent way” in doing so.

Most of all, here is my biggest question concerning Dr. King: Will I see my hero in heaven?

You know, I’ve read so much written by Dr. King and about Dr. King, that it gets confusing as to where I have read what at times. However, what stands out the most of all that I’ve ever read was an obscure essay he once wrote about the night back when he was leading his first bus boycott for the desegregation of buses in Montgomery, Alabama, and in retaliation, someone shot up his house, leaving bullet holes in the very sanctuary where his wife and kids found refuge.

He proceeded to write of how he sat alone that night in his kitchen—already a husband, father, up-and-coming national civil rights leader, and even a Baptist minister—and shaken to his core by what had happened to his home, he asked himself if he had truly experienced a (spiritually) born again experience in making Jesus Christ his personal Lord and Savior. And not sure of his own answer to that question, but wanting to make sure he was truly “in Christ” and not just deceivingly a mere part of “Churchianity” and “religious culture,” this pioneering visionary, scholar, courageous commander and religious man who emulated Jesus Christ, actually lowered his head and invited the risen Christ into His heart as his personal Lord and Savior for the remission of sins.

I’ve heard many wonder if King Solomon will be in heaven simply because of his severe backsliding (which led him to worship in very demonic ways). But based on his conclusion in Ecclesiastes, I believe King Solomon is in glory.

And I cannot prove it (for who knows the heart but God (I Corinthians 4:5), I believe my hero Dr. King is in glory as well.

In closing, what should be our practical take away and application concerning the legacy of Dr. King?

In this racially-polarized day, when so many (even in the Church) refuse to have the necessary, ongoing, tough conversations concerning race, and when we must be ready to (lovingly) challenge others (and even challenge ourselves at times), let us remember how Dr. King seemed to never grow weary in “leaning into discomfort” for the love of others. In a day when the Church has grossly confused merely knowing with actually doing something with what you know, let us remember how Dr. King’s entire life was a living sermon on how talk is cheap. More so, in a day, when Christians sometimes can’t even garner enough Christian humility to apologize to their next-door neighbors for the slightest offenses, Dr. King made Jesus’ teachings on forgiveness and “turning the other cheek” look supernatural, to say the least.

In a day when Christians can’t even embrace a brother or sister who adheres to a different style of worship or denominational viewpoint, let us remember how Dr. King was able to embrace Malcolm X with love and honor—even after Malcolm X publicly criticized Dr. King and regularly alluded to Dr. King not being “strong enough.” Most of all, in a day when we struggle with sacrificing for anything we deem “too costly,” in Dr. King we see a man who sacrificed even unto death—even (seemingly) prophesying about his imminent death in a message delivered some 24 hours before he was assassinated. In it, he declared that he still wasn’t going to stop and wasn’t concerned with such because he had received a fresh vision of His Lord Jesus Christ, and that He would one day be returning to Earth to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.

You know, for so many reasons, I still can’t watch this video clip without tears running down my face. And when I grow up, I still want to be so much like Dr. King, just like I desire to be so much like King David, Abraham, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and so many others who have deeply impacted me for Jesus, in one way or another, even as they all prove that even “the best of men, are but men at best” (A.W. Pink).

So dear reader, let’s keep thinking; let’s keep the necessary conversations going while being more eager to listen than to speak; let’s love one another sacrificially; let’s love our enemies as Jesus commanded us; let’s continue facing this current evil day with relevant Gospel outreaches and spontaneous acts of love, all in our deepest desire to showcase Jesus Christ as man’s only solution for every dilemma—and especially the dilemma of race and America’s ongoing reaping from the ongoing sowing of things that clearly contradict the heart and mind of God concerning how people treat and value one another. Happy Birthday, Dr. King! Salute!

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.” — Strength To Love, 1963

In Israel’s heyday, to call someone a “dog” was an insult, not a stage name in the rap game. Some say the name “Caleb” meant “dog.” Well, not anymore. The Caleb of Israel changed all that.

We know Caleb as a warrior, a man of faith, a faithful believer in the power of the God of Israel. He was no dog. Like Christ, he came from Judah. And like Christ, he was a lion of Judah. No dog in Caleb whatsoever.

Caleb, of course, had been one of the original spies sent by Moses into Canaan some 40 years earlier. He had, along with Joshua, had faith in the ability of the God of Israel. Sure, the inhabitants of Canaan were a force to be reckoned with, but God was on their side. Caleb and Joshua believed God; they believed in His power.

Caleb “with Joshua” didn’t buy into the grasshopper logic. You know the kind: “We are like grasshoppers in their sight! We will surely be defeated!” They bought more into a Pauline logic: “If God be for us, who can be against us” (Romans 8:31).

Yes, from the very beginning Caleb appeared as a man of faith. Because he believed God, he did not die with the other spies. He and Joshua lived. Joshua replaced Moses, leading the people into the Promised Land. Caleb supported him; Caleb went along for the ride. Caleb was all in.

Finally, once in the land, after 40 years of wilderness wandering, Caleb approached Joshua. They had come to the land. Caleb had never forgotten it. He had dreamed of this day. He had looked forward to getting back into that land he’d spied out so many years ago. He wanted to take it. And he had a specific piece of the land in mind.

Caleb’s Faith

“Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, ‘You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the LORD my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, “Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God'”(Joshua 14:6-9).

We first note the faith of Caleb. The original faith from 40 years earlier still pulsed through his body. With intensity, he reminded Joshua of Moses’ promise to him. According to Moses, Caleb had “wholly followed the LORD,” a phrase oft-repeated about Caleb. He was a devoted man. His faith was still alive. He still believed.

Caleb had seen the bodies fall in the wilderness. He saw God’s promises unfolding. With every funeral he attended, his faith grew. He aged. At 85 years old, he saw how God had kept His word towards Caleb. He was alive. This built up the faith that was already there. Then, he went to Joshua, overflowing with belief in what God would do.

Caleb’s faith was astounding. It was a faith that grew. It was a faith that had been tested. It was a faith that was alive. May this faith dwell in us.

Caleb’s Strength

“And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming”(Joshua 14:10-11).

Secondly, we note the strength of Caleb. The claim he made was incredible. It had been a total of 45 years since the Kadesh Barnea tragedy. They’d come into the land at this point and, after a few years of fighting, Caleb was 85 years old. But you must fight against all images of all 85-year-old men you’ve ever met. Caleb was not like them. Caleb was just as strong then as he was at 40. I do not think he was self-deceived. I think God had powerfully worked in his life.

Others died, but Caleb thrived. He was more than alive; he was living. His joints and muscles and bones all radiated God’s glory, for he was still as strong as the day he spied out that land originally. He could war, no doubt about it.

Caleb’s strength was astounding. It was a strength that remained, a strength that grew. Does this not remind us of the inward strength we long to feel increase within us? Do we not want to be 85 years old with an internal power that is more than we had in our youth? Though the outward man perishes, the Spirit can make the inner man renewed day by day. May this strength fall upon us.

Caleb’s Love

“So now give me this hill country of which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the LORD said.’ Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD, the God of Israel. Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba. (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim.) And the land had rest from war” (Joshua 14:12-15).

Thirdly, we note the love of Caleb. He loved the mountain. That’s what he wanted from Joshua: the hill country of Hebron. Others in the book of Joshua would faint at the sight of the mountains; they were occupied by powerful forces with heavy weaponry. The hill country was hard to overcome, hard to defeat; but Caleb wanted to take it. To him, it was the best opportunity. He was a mountain man, and he couldn’t wait for Joshua to release him upon it.

But it seemed there was more to Hebron than the difficulty of the terrain. Sure, Caleb looked forward to crushing the Anakim there, but there may have been something else. Hebron was historical. Abraham had built an altar there after Lot’s departure. Abraham and Isaac and Jacob all sojourned there. It seemed to have been a place of fellowship with God. Caleb wanted the mountain, but more so, Caleb wanted God. He wholly followed God. He loved His Lord.

Caleb’s love was astounding. It was a love and devotion rarely found. Hebron means “association” or “league”; may we crave an association with God as Caleb did. Let us be in league with Him. Let us become a people whose hearts are captured by the mountain. Mount Calvary opened up Mount Hebron to us. The blood made way for friendship with God. May this love develop within us.

Caleb was an outrageous man, a far cry from the norms of his day. Bold, full of faith and in love with God. He did not war for war’s sake, but for God. He wanted to see God’s kingdom advance. The likeness of Christ was found in Him, for Jesus wanted His mountain most of all. Like Flint, His face was set towards His cross, toward His mountain. He did not grow complacent, satisfied with what was. No, he battled for more. May we do the same.

God, give us our mountain!

Sometimes it seems like Christians have a particular knack for looking down on and judging one another. Often this has to do with differences in personal convictions over grey areas. These are areas where Scripture does not give an unequivocal “thou shalt not…” or “do this…”, requiring Christians to work out a of wise approach to the matter at hand as they navigate the issue through life. In Romans 14:9-23, Paul deals with how to approach the question of convictions in amoral areas in a way that honors Christ and our brothers and sisters in the process.

“19 Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeedare pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense. 21 It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. 22 Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.” (NKJV)

The passage contains four important principles for Christian unity:

Be Careful How You Define Sin

“All things indeed are pure.” In other words, if the Bible doesn’t say something is sin, you must not universally define it as sin. If the Bible is silent on a particular issue, or gives freedom in an area, or doesn’t set forth a specific stance, then no Christian, no matter how insightful and spiritual they think they are, has the right to declare it as sin or universally unacceptable. There are plenty of things the Bible does say are sin (which you would think would keep us busy enough as it is). Interestingly, spiritual pride is near the top of the list. As soon as you take any of your own, personal convictions and try to force it on others or turn it in to a blanket rule for all Christians, or simply quietly look down on others who don’t share your conviction, you have effectively become a Pharisee. These areas of conviction include things like moderate alcohol use (as opposed to drunkenness, which is clearly prohibited in Scripture), birth control, watching Harry Potter, eating bacon, playing cards, listening to secular music, using electricity, and on the list goes.

Follow Your Conscience

“Whatever is not from faith is sin.” This means that if you are personally convinced God doesn’t want you to do something, even though the Bible is silent on it, then don’t do it! For you it would be sin! The reason it would be sin is not because the thing or action itself is wrong, but because, in as far as you are convinced, it would be disobedience to God, and that is sin. So stick to your convictions. Live by them if you believe God is leading you to. Just don’t force them on others because then you’ll have a much bigger problem than eating bacon or watching Harry Potter.

Serve Your Brother, Not Yourself

“It is good not to do anything by which your brother stumbles.” That is, if the option is between using your freedom to do what you want and serving your brother, we should always go with the latter. Always. We are given great freedom in Christ not so we can do whatever we want, but so that in surrendering it for others we may become more like Jesus. The Cross of Jesus proves without a doubt that serving others is more important than standing on your rights. Those who have freedom in an area should be mature enough not to force their freedom on one who has more sensitive convictions. But does that mean we have to stop drinking coffee, eating bacon, watching TV and using electricity just cause it might stumble someone, somewhere in some hypothetical situation?

Wield Your Freedom in Love

“Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God.” To answer the previous question, no, to serve others with our freedom doesn’t mean that we become as strict in our convictions as they are. It does mean that we use our freedom with discretion and readiness to surrender it for others. The principle is not “if this might stumble someone, somewhere, I should never, ever do it.” Otherwise you’ll end up being a raw food vegan who doesn’t use electricity because “somewhere out there” is a vegan Amish person who might be stumbled by your freedom. But the thing is, love doesn’t exist in “theory”, only in practice. The principle Paul states here is this: “If my freedom in a given area does stumble the person I’m with right now, then in his presence I will refrain.” So enjoy the freedom God has given you, but use your freedom in places and ways it won’t stumble others. At the very least, you can enjoy your plate of bacon as you sit before God in solitude and thank Him for making pigs so delicious. Don’t worry, it won’t stumble Him. Understand, this principle does not mean we stop using freedom. But it does mean we surrender it at times for the good of those people we are actually serving and whom it would stumble at that moment.

If we as Christians would all apply these simple Scriptural principles, there would be a lot less petty fighting and contentions among the body of Christ.

Final Disclaimer

One disclaimer should be mentioned at this point: if a person is attempting to set up their own, personal convictions as a law for all other believers, it really means they are trying to set themselves up as God, since He is the only One who has the right to establish commands for all Christians. In that case, what we should do? We should do what Jesus did: contradict and break pharisaic pseudo-laws boldly. And if they are contradicting the will of God through their man-made convictions, we should ignore them and even be willing to rebuke them. Jesus often practiced this when the Pharisees attempted to thwart the work and will of God with their extra-biblical convictions. Jesus’ response was to boldly contradict them and continue on with the work His Father was doing. He even seemed to take delight in pressing the buttons of religious Pharisees at times. After all, He could’ve avoided offending their sensitivities if He wanted to, but He didn’t. Perhaps this was to show those upon whom the Pharisees had laid their burdens that one can truly love God without all the extra baggage of man-made restrictions.