Hello BRN Family. It’s good to be with you today.
Bookending our schedule next week are two important days of observance for our churches.
On Monday, January 16, many will observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday in the United States marking the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King championed life and freedom, especially among black Americans.
In his acceptance speech in 1964, Dr. King said he accepted his Nobel Peace Prize with “an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind.”
Confronting what he called “the battle to end the long night of racial injustice,” King said, “I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits.”
Do we have the audacity to believe that as well?
In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul reminds the church to remove all barriers that would attempt to lift one people or group over another. He said in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
May the Lord unify us and remove all the barriers that separate us!
The following Sunday, January 22, is Sanctity of Life Sunday, in which churches also celebrate God’s gift of life as sacred and holy. Many will commemorate the many lives lost to abortion.
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,” God said in Jeremiah 1:5, “Before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
From the very beginning, before we were even in the womb, God placed his extreme value– his glory!–on those He created. We , too, should ascribe that value to all human beings at every stage of life — from the womb to one’s deathbed.
We are thankful for these observances because the Baptist Resource Network values life and each other. We believe God wants to heal relationships broken by sin, including the sins of abortion, racism, division, and disunity.
We can only achieve this because of what God achieved through Jesus.
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God,” 2 Corinthians 5:21. What an awesome gift to celebrate. He gave us life, but because He gave His life, He also gave us righteousness.
I want to urge you to participate in this year’s MLK Day of Service. Join Christians across the country in meeting the needs in your community and beyond. Whether your project focuses on the whole city, a specific neighborhood or even one family, your service can change lives.
I want to further urge you to celebrate the value of all life on both of these days, celebrating that all of humanity is created in God’s image and for His glory.
I am praying for you! Thanks for listening in today, and may God bless you!
